Paper-Based 3D Printing Used by Medical Team to Create Detailed Bone Structure Models

There are two issues with long surgeries: cost and risk to the patient. Surgery cost approximately $100 per minute, which means there is a business opportunity for shortening surgeries without reducing efficacy. Also, the longer a surgery lasts, the greater the health risks to the patient, especially in sensitive operations on the brain or other major organs.

In Belgium, 3D printing is offering doctors a chance to shave hours off in the operating room by creating an exact replica of a patient’s bone structure as a surgical guide.

“With each procedure, we easily win an hour in the operating room, and that’s a major benefit for the patient.” – Professor Raphael Olszewski, a surgeon and head of the university’s oral and maxillofacial surgery research lab at the Cliniques universitaires saint Luc, Université catholique de Louvain (UCL) in Belgium.

These doctors are using paper 3D printing from Mcor Technologies, an approach that can 3D print in millions of colors and nearly any additive shape.

Related: Mcor 3D Printing on Paper Creates Photo-Realistic Objects

In a piece authored by Mcor’s Director of Marketing Julie Reece, this innovative medical technique is explained in more detail.

The surgeons employ paper 3D printing technology from Mcor Technologies to recoup hours from traditional surgical procedures. Working from the digitally scanned contours of patients’ bones, doctors push a button to create full-size 3D physical models they can use as surgical guides.

Since the model is a facsimile of the patient’s actual physiology, surgeons can use it to precisely shape metal inserts that fit along a patient’s residual bone. The insert might be a plate that supports a damaged mandible or a titanium mesh for reconstructing a damaged eye socket. Without 3D physical models to work from, surgeons would be forced to rely on time-consuming trial and error to shape the metal implants and risk potential tissue damage.

Eco-Friendly Solution

The Belgium-based medical team is not new to 3D printing, but did make a switch in 3D printers. They had previously employed a ZPrinter from ZCorp (acquired by 3D Systems) that uses resin and powder, and converted to the Mcor 3D printer that uses paper with water-based adhesive. One benefit to the doctors is that Mcor provides an eco-friendly and non-toxic solution. Moreover, the cost to 3D print a patient model is about half of what it costs on the ZPrinter.

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