Yale News reports on the ways in which additive manufacturing are helping aid in bone reconstruction surgeries and treatments.
Dr. David Frumberg, Assistant Professor of Orthopedics and Rehabilitation at Yale’s Center for Engineering Innovation & Design (CEID), discovered when it came to bone reconstruction procedures, X-rays and CT scans “weren’t giving him enough information to go on.”
So, Dr. Frumberg chose to 3D print a model of his patients’ bones. “Having these models available allowed him to hold the problem in his hand, turn it around, and help him see things he hadn’t – couldn’t – before.”
As Dr. Frumberg explains: “for me, the models help in so many ways. They help me come up with a plan, they help me figure out the relationships between all the different complex deformities, and what needs to be repaired and what doesn’t.”
These models are “especially useful for the more complicated cases and go a long way to reduce a lot of guesswork. And now, when I open up a patient, there aren’t so many surprises to work out on the fly. Every time I get a model, it changes my plan 100%.”
“The way Frumberg discovered the value of the 3D models is typical of how a lot of things happen at the CEID. He first came to the makerspace looking to use its laser cutter to devise a grid that would better ensure the proper alignment of bones. He took a look around the room and got some new ideas.” As he explains: “there were students there doing the most amazing things.”
Image and Quotes Courtesy of Yale News
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