The Bengbu Hospital in the Anhui Province makes use of additive technologies to create medical visuals and guides for vertebrae surgery. Back in 2013, director of orthopedics Niu Guoqi launched the research of 3D printing application for vertebrae, aiming to establish it in-house.

Director Niu’s team and the whole project were the first to apply 3D printing technology for healthcare applications in the Anhui Province. The device they employed was the Raise3D N2 Plus 3D printer from the manufacturer’s very first lineup. The team appears to find it extremely efficient.

“[The Raise3D N2 Plus] printer is the most stable one among all I have tried. The print quality is really good. The surface features of the bone are all recovered in the printed model,” comments Niu Guoqi on the use of the machine in vertebrae surgery, which is one of the most complex and riskiest for doctors.

The photo above shows a multi-color printed model of a spine with the artery and a tumor. The vertebra and tumor are printed in white and green respectively, while the artery is painted in red.

Prior to these breakthroughs in the hospital thanks to 3D printing, vertebrae-related procedures were exceedingly risky even with the most high-skilled surgeons. Yet, 3D printed visuals and guides made a great difference.

Before introducing 3D printing, surgical procedures were carried out with conventional methods.

1. Only a few specialized surgeons performed complex surgeries.

2. Drilling was held for the most part by intuition.

3. Success rates were naturally variable.

By using 3D printing, the institution is able to:

1. Create visuals providing insight when diagnosing.

2. Create guides increasing success rates.

3. Allow doctors that do not specialize in spine surgery to reliably operate with guides.

For a visual model, the team creates an STL file from CT scan data through special software. The printed model is either used for locating symptoms such as fractures and deformations or fitting guides before the surgery.

For surgical guides, they also use computer design which ensures stability and precision to make a guide with identical geometry to the mounting area.

Niu’s team designs models with tubes or canals guiding the drill holes. They test printed guides on the observation model and adjust it if necessary, which guarantees a perfect fit.

The print time for such a model will be only about an hour. The surgical guide can then be attached to the vertebrae to do drilling and allows for easy detachment with no extra equipment needed.

The doctors utilize a Raise3D N2 Plus to make all their models (although it is not known whether they switched to a more modern iteration). In any case, they rely on the high resolution and smooth surface that make for the quality and efficiency of the models. They note that the subtle geometries in models are excellently preserved by the N2 Plus’ printing methods, allowing the observer to precisely recognize and capture certain positions. Besides, the dual extrusion technology enables the team to create contrast models that will aid them in observation. And if you are interested in such equipment, we recommend you consider a more up-to-date model by this manufacturer — the Raise3D Pro2, which is, too, equipped with a dual extrusion system and an array of high-end features improving the user experience and making for outstanding results.

Bengbu Hospital Uses 3D Printing for Complex Surgery