2023-12-26 17:47:00
Photo: Alejandro Santa Cruz
Planning a surgery in more detail, explaining the procedure to the patient with life-size printed images or figures, performing more precise interventions with less recovery time, are the main characteristics of 3D technology applied to medicine, cataloged by specialists in the matter as an extraordinary advance in the field.
The Biomodels and 3D Printing Laboratory that was inaugurated last March at the Arturo Jauretche National University (UNAJ) works together with the El Cruce Hospital, both located in the Buenos Aires town of Florencio Varela, and They managed to develop surgical guides made of biocompatible material that allow greater efficiency in cutting and reduce surgical and patient recovery times.
Ignacio Marolla, reference of the LaboratoryHe added that, in addition, in the chemical engineering department of that hospital, last October a new area was inaugurated – which he is also in charge of – called Biomedical Modeling and that is developing “the strategic plan to define the current services and see where we can expand the projects, which are done in coordination with the UNAJ.”
Photo: Alejandro Santa Cruz
3D medicine is “a great advance” since it allows “personalization”. The key is to “make a 3D print for planning” and reduce the incision that is made, or remove a smaller portion of the bone, removing only the necessary tissues, all of which provides, on the one hand, less risk, in general, but also a faster recovery because the procedure is less invasive, explained the specialist in dialogue with Télam.
“When a patient has an accident and the brain becomes inflamed, a cut is made so that it deflates without compressing it with the skull, then, temporarily, what was cut is replaced with a material and with 3D technology you make the exact mold, so that it fits perfectly and prepared in advance and with great precision,” he stated.
Marolla specified that “cutting guides, molds for traumatology, for spacers” were also made.among other things, and that one of the main challenges of the laboratory is the acquisition of a metal printer to produce personalized prostheses and that, for this, “they are working on agreements with other public and private organizations.”
Laboratories and the use of technology
The UNAJ laboratory is equipped with 4 3D printers, a 3D scanner, an oven to heat the filament and homogenize it “so that the print comes out better and one more printer that allows printing on a greater range of materials, including a material that It’s called peek, which is biocompatible, and with that we make the cutting guide,” he explained.
Photo: Alejandro Santa Cruz
In this frame, The Austral University Hospital inaugurated the Institute of 3D Medicine (IM3D), a health center for computer-assisted medicine and 3D planningwhich “revolutionizes” diagnosis and therapeutic options, said Marcos Galli Serra, coordinator of the area.
At IM3D, which comprehensively addresses cases, “we can offer another service within medicine, an extraordinary advance because it is much more specific, personalized and offers many advantages in terms of time, planning and precision.”
“Doctors must have responsibility and institutions too, as to which patients this technology can be used on, since there are cases in which it is really necessary and other simpler ones, in which traditional treatments work perfectly,” he said. the coordinator.
“We wanted to have a laboratory within the hospital so as not to delegate the impressions to other centers and, in this way, provide all the care in a comprehensive manner,” said Galli Serra and highlighted that “this means that the surgeons work together with the technicians.” , imaging specialists, biomedical engineers and we are all involved in the process.
According to the doctor, Many of the cases in which 3D medicine is used are those of people with bone tumors to which a “piece must be removed and for this it is previously diagrammed, so that the surgeons know which is the smallest portion that they can remove and, thus, less tissue is removed and the patient’s recovery is taken care of.”
Photo: Alejandro Santa Cruz
Likewise, these models are used to explain in detail to the patient, “many of whom are pediatric, and to their families”, what the intervention is going to be like, printing in 3D and in real size “a femur or whatever is going to be performed to now show it in a more pedagogical and easy to understand way,” he continued.
Galli Serra highlighted that in IM3D Cutting guides are also made that serve to specify it exactly, avoiding removing or damaging surrounding tissue and already having those dimensions in advance of surgery.
“So, the patient arrives, is diagnosed and all the molds he needs are made here, if he needs a prosthesis we see if there is one on the market with those exact dimensions and if not the mold is made and then, according to the medical coverage , you contact a firm that prints on metal for the final realization of it,” explained the specialist.
In this sense, Galli Serra explained that “everything that is implanted in the patient has to be approved and authorized by ANMAT, it is done by companies that have to comply with a series of very strict regulations and maintain specific traceability of the product.”
And he warned that specific prostheses “are highly recommended, especially in pediatric patients, because if they can be developed in a way to preserve the cartilage, this will allow the rest of the bone – which could be preserved – to continue growing, which translates in quality of life”.
Photo: Alejandro Santa Cruz
Printing bone parts through 3D technology contributes a lot at the time of the consultation, because “you can show it: the patient can see it, touch it and get a better idea of what the procedure will be like,” said Galli Soler and added that “it is very It is important that both the patient and the family not only authorize the treatment, but also understand it and are convinced to carry it out.
The Austral University Hospital also has a bone bankor, regulated by Incucai and, “with 3D medicine we can make the molds and cut the bones to the size of what we need to replace that unique and necessary bone fragment and the surgery is less than what would otherwise be done and also allows you to use only what is needed from the bone and obtain a greater number of fragments for other people.
Galli Soler stressed that better planning of surgery “in most cases” It implies greater precision in cuts, less invasive procedures that achieve faster recoveries, something essential for the patient’s quality of life.
“The medical group plans and sees the surgery many times more than it did before, when the doctor had to see an x-ray, tomography or MRI and made decisions by seeing the problem on paper, on a plan and imagining in his head how and where things are, now in 3D it is much simpler, you can see the dimensions and distances,” he explained.
Photo: Alejandro Santa Cruz
The specialist also considered as “an extraordinary advance” the 3D technology applied to medicine since “before there were patients who, due to their pathology, did not apply to any standard prosthesis and lost their limb, today that has changed and it is really very important.”
3D medicine “is very developed, the big challenges for me are that doctors understand the correct use of the technology, not using it on all patients, finding the correct indication, being responsible when making decisions.”
On the other hand, in the future, “I think there will be a lot of progress” in everything that has to do “with biological 3D printing, it seems to me that this is a very good future field and that, hand in hand with that, it is necessary that public and private institutions get involved in research and development, much of which is already being done.
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