Other hospitals already use 3D printers for planning difficult surgeries and try these on 3D printed models. These technique helped the doctors and their patients.
For their project the University Hospital Essen has developed their own software called “Virutelle Fusion”, german for Virtual Fusion. With this software it is possible to combine different 3D object like broken bone parts and fixtures for the bone parts to be printed afterwards. Responsible for the project was Dr. Adrian Ringelstein. With his team he developed the technology for the University Hospital Essen and are now in the testing phase to check on its possibilities.
The tests should show for which surgeries the technique can be used. Therefore they want to use 3D printing for more than 100 different surgeries to see where it is most useful. One of the first 3D printed objects was a skull with a height of 20 centimetres and a width of 15 centimetres. The skull with an aneurysm was 3D printed in 10 hours and had a weight of 250 grams. An aneurysm is an unwanted extension of a blood vessel. It’s like a balloon that may explode and after the explosion it causes life-threatening internal bleeding. With the 3D printed model surgeons could plan the operation with more detail. This reduces the risk of complications during the surgery and could save the life of the patient.
A similar method is also used at other hospitals, for example in London or from heart sergeants in Hong Kong.
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