DO-IT-YOURSELF 3D PRINTING FOR ACETABULAR FRACTURE SURGERY: THE WORKFLOW TEMPLATE

Abstract

3D printing techniques have attracted a lot of curiosity in various surgical specialties and the applications of the 3D technology have been explored in many ways including fracture models for education, customized jigs, custom implants, prosthetics etc. Often the 3D printing technology remains underutilized in potential areas due to costs and technological expertise being the perceived barriers.We have applied 3D printing technology for acetabular fracture surgeries with in-house, surgeon made models of mirrored contralateral unaffected acetabulum based on the patients’ trauma CT Scans in 9 patients. The CT Scans are processed to the print with all free-ware modeling software and relatively inexpensive printer by the surgeon and the resulting model is used as a ‘reduced fracture template’ for pre-contouring the standard pelvic reconstruction plates. This allows use of the standard surgical implants, saves time on intra-operative plate contouring, and also aids in reduction to an extent.We share through this presentation the workflow of the freeware softwares to use in order to use this surgical planning and implant preparation that may remove the perceived barriers of cost and technology from surgeons that wish to explore using 3D printing technology for acetabular fracture management and may extend applications to other regions.