Text/Reporter Xing Liang Photo/Hospital Provided by Respondents
Fall, fracture, the situation is particularly complicated, often need to spend a lot of time surgery, but with the help of 3D printing technology, doctors can hold the restoration model of the fracture site, accurate preoperative planning - recently, 57-year-old Mr. Ma fractured due to a car accident, the Sixth Affiliated Hospital of Xinjiang Medical University (Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region Orthopaedic Hospital) with the help of 3D printing technology, restore the injured part, successfully carried out precision repair surgery, not only the operation time is greatly shortened, but also less injury, good prognosis.
3D printing is based on digital models, through digital technology material printers to produce three-dimensional physical objects. The application of this technology in medical clinics is mainly reflected in personalized treatment, as far as orthopedics is concerned, 3D printing can produce an accurate three-dimensional physical model of the required parts through scanning equipment, more intuitively display the patient's complex bone condition in front of the doctor, so that the preoperative diagnosis is more clear, the doctor can also use the model to carry out realistic surgical simulation, pre-shaping the built-ins used in the operation, and the treatment is more targeted.
Ma Yuan, director of the Department of Spine Surgery of the Sixth Affiliated Hospital of Xinjiang Medical University, said that before the maturity of 3D printing technology, orthopedic surgeons mainly used X-rays and CT scans and other imaging means in surgery, combined with the patient's situation observed during surgery and spatial imagination to make a judgment, and only repeated exploration would consume a lot of surgical time.
In 2013, the Sixth Affiliated Hospital of Xinjiang Medical University introduced 3D printing technology for the first time in the northwest region, and the Xinjiang Institute of Spine Surgery, which was opened in the Department of Spine Surgery, has won two National Natural Science Foundations and three natural science foundation projects of the Autonomous Region Science and Technology Department in the treatment of severe rigid spinal deformities in 3D printing osteotomy orthopedics in that year. In recent years, using 3D printing as a surgically assisted technology, the Sixth Affiliated Hospital of Xinjiang Medical University has successfully cured a number of patients with complex conditions.
After Mr. Ma suffered a car accident this time, the left acetabulum crush fracture and the left tibia plateau fracture, both fractures are intra-articular fractures, and the fracture displacement is obvious, requiring surgery as soon as possible.
Preoperative and postoperative X-rays
Li Lubing, director of orthopedic surgery for bone diseases, said that considering that the acetabular fracture site is relatively deep, there are many important nerves and blood vessels around it, and the structure is complex. In order to understand Mr. Ma's fracture situation three-dimensionally and intuitively, the surgical team used 3D printing technology to print out half of the pelvis on the injured side.
This model is not only "exactly the same" size as Mr. Ma's acetabular part, but also shows the fractures, deformations, etc. one by one, with an error of no more than 0.1 mm.
A 3D simulation model made of 3D printing technology
In this way, the surgical team clearly observed the important parts such as blood vessels and nerves that should be avoided during the operation, and carried out certain surgical rehearsals according to the model to ensure that the operation was faster and more accurate, reduced the intraoperative blood loss of patients, and prevented postoperative complications.
The Department of Spine Outside the Spine used 3D printing technology to successfully perform multiple accurate spinal orthopedics. This spring, a 16-year-old girl with a severe bend in the body to one side came to the Sixth Affiliated Hospital of Xinjiang Medical University for treatment and was diagnosed with "idiopathic severe scoliosis in adolescents."
Pre-orthopedic imaging
The little girl is in the adolescent period, and the aggravation of the disease may affect the heart and lung function, and Ma Yuan decided to surgically correct scoliosis for her.
The key to scoliosis surgery is the precise placement of the internal fixation "pedicle nail" used in the operation. Ma Yuan said that the spinal rotation and deformation of scoliosis patients is very complicated, and the traditional surgical nailing relies entirely on the clinical experience of the surgeon, and a slight deviation may damage the nerve.
3D printing technology avoids this traditional defect, the surgical team of the department outside the spine first uses a thin-layer CT scan to obtain spine data, and then prints a 1:1 model of the girl's vertebral body through a 3D printer, and finally fixes it into a template catheter through the preoperative designed nail point and angle, accurately places the nail, and completes the operation in 3 and a half hours.
Post-orthopedic imaging
On the 3rd day after the operation, the girl walked on the ground with the help of an orthopedic fixation brace, she "stood up straight", and her height changed from 162 cm before the operation to 174 cm.
In the future, the Sixth Affiliated Hospital of Xinjiang Medical University will continue to use 3D printing technology to solve difficult clinical diseases, relieve pain for patients, and improve patient satisfaction and happiness.
(Editor/Tian Jiang Review/Xia Lijuan)