New Study shows how Patients could benefit from 3D Printing when they have Wrist Surgeries

Dr. Nicola Brizzotto is specialised on surgeries on the wrist. These surgeries are needed after complicate fractures. Now colleagues of the doctor have published a study where they show how 3D printing helps with this injuries.

The Italian doctor Nicola Bizzotto was the first surgeon that has used 3D printing as part of the preparation for an operation on the wrist. Before he used a 3D printer to print a model of the damaged wrist he had to 3D scan it. With this preparation the surgery’s got faster, easier and safer for the patients. This also inspired other surgeons to use the same technique and finally Italian colleges of Dr Nicola Bizzotto have teamed up with a Switzer surgeon. Together they published a study which shows the benefits of 3D printing as part of preparation for surgeries on the wrist.

There are three key advantages of 3D printing for this application. The printed modelcould be used for studying and deciding how the surgery should be made. It also can be used to define the perfect position of the surgical plate and its form. An additional benefit is that it can be used to show the patient what will be done on their wrist a how it’s done – this often takes away some of the fears of the patients.

The advantages in the use of 3D printing immediately became clear in three main aspects of patient treatment. physical 3D model is used primarily for studying and preparing the surgical intervention as well as to select the ideal surgical plate. This translates into an immediate reduction of operating times and costs. One additional benefit is the use of the 3D printed model in patient-doctor communication.

This technique has clearly some advantages. At the first sight it seems more expensive but the surgery time per patient is reduced and the end result for the patient is better. Therefore the more costs for printing an plastic model are fully justified.