Chinese Surgeons Print 3-D Model of Spine to Improve Surgical Outcome

Chalk up another victory for 3-D printing technology.

While it has yet to evolve to the point where 3-D printed human organs or body parts are possible, additive manufacturing constantly is making inroads in many areas of medicine, particularly in orthopedics, where clinicians have created custom physical models of a specific anatomical region before surgery to help doctors better understand the procedure and improve outcomes.

One such example recently took place at the Orthopaedic Hospital of Zhengzhou City in China, where a 28-year-old woman named Yan had suddenly begun suffering from numbness and difficulty standing, walking, and grasping items. Up until that point Yan had been a normal, healthy young adult, but when she went in for an exam, doctors found that her third cervical vertebra had a serious congenital malformation. This caused Yan to suffer from a condition known as atlantoaxial dislocation, causing the nerves near the rear of her spinal cord to compress. This compression led to the lack of feeling and movement that Yan had been experiencing.

This was a difficult condition to correct, as the spinal cord is one of the most delicate areas within the human body to operate on or around. One small mistake by surgeons could turn an otherwise healthy patient into a quadriplegic within seconds, or even worse, cause death. It was a difficult situation for the doctors, but after repeated consultations Dr. Mei Wei and fellow staff members at the Orthopaedic Hospital of Zhengzhou City decided the best way to go about the surgery would be to practice first on a near-exact 3-D printed model of Yan’s actual spine.

The team used X-ray and CT scan data to formulate a 3-D model, which was then sent to a 3-D printer where the replica spinal column was fabricated. In the past surgeons would rely solely on two-dimensional imagery from the same medical data, making it incredibly difficult to gain a thorough understanding of the entire procedure that they were about to perform.

This procedure was extremely complicated as surgeons would need to free soft tissue from the site, reset the dislocation, and then screw everything back together without damaging the patient’s nearby spinal cord. With 3-D printing they were able to rehearse the delicate procedure so that when they finally did make the actual incisions and perform the subsequent procedure, it was accomplished rapidly and precisely.

Following the procedure earlier this month the patient has already reported significant improvement, with the reduction of numbness and improved strength in her extremities. Surgeons certainly could not have performed this complicated procedure as confidently without the help of 3-D printing technology.

“I would anticipate particularly for difficult cases where you have unusual anatomy or damaged anatomy 3-D printing could be very useful as a way to practice or anticipate how you’re going to do a procedure,” said one industry expert. “Particularly what it does is allows surgeons to have visual and tactile feedback on a complex orthopedic problem.”