Paediatric Orthopaedic Surgery with 3D Printing: Improvements and Cost Reduction

Abstract

This paper presents a a novel alghorithm of diagnosis and treatment of rigid flatfoot due to tarsal coalition. It introduces a workflow based on 3D printed models, that ensures more efficiency, not only by reducing costs and time, but also by improving procedures in the preoperative clinical phase. Since this paper concerns the development of a new methodology that integrates both engineering and medical fields, it highlights symmetry. An economic comparison is made between the traditional method and the innovative one; the results demonstrate a reduction in costs with the latter. The current, traditional method faces critical issues in diagnosing the pathologies of a limb (such as the foot) and taking decisions for further treatment of the same limb. The proposed alternative methodology thus uses new technologies that are part of the traditional workflow, only replacing the most obsolete ones. In fact, it is increasingly becoming necessary to introduce new technologies in orthopedics, as in other areas of medicine, to offer improved healthcare services for patients. Similar clinical treatments can be performed using the aforementioned technologies, offering greater effectiveness, more simplicity of approach, shorter times, and lower costs. An important technology that fits into this proposed methodology is 3D printing.

Implementation of an In-House 3D Manufacturing Unit in a Public Hospital’s Radiology Department

“…If the decision is made in favor of a POCML, it is mandatory to define the workflow and response capacity [ 12 , 45 ], as well as a product portfolio based on experience. Adapting a workflow to the resources of each organization can be the key factor in the success of the implementation [ 46 , 47 ]. Quantifying the error that can be assumed in the process [ 35 , 48 ] is important for clinical security, so it is essential to define all these “artisanal processes” in SOPs for each type of application, following the recommendations of local regulations (in our case, UNE-EN-ISO13485).…”

Continuous, High Efficiency Defrosting of Air-to-Air Heat Pumps

“…Compared with the existing defrost systems, the proposed system has a unique advantage: the heat for defrosting is obtained with a high COP, given by the difference between air-inlet-external-coil temperature and indoor air temperature [2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17]. Another advantage is that the heat pump does not stop working during defrosting.…”

Virtual Surgical Planning, 3D-Printing and Customized Bone Allograft for Acute Correction of Severe Genu Varum in Children

“…Medical images were acquired in the Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine (DICOM) format and transferred to the 3D-printing POC. Three-dimensional digital reconstruction was achieved through a process of image segmentation and conversion in Standard Triangulation Language (STL) format, using open-source software (3D Slicer) [23], according to a well-established procedure in use at our lab [18,24,25] (Figure 2). In accordance with this procedure, the 3D digital reconstruction of the anatomical region of the patient is analyzed and imported in a virtual working environment (Blender) [26] (Figure 3) able to plan and simulate the correction, to design the patient-specific (PS) implants and/or device and to predict the final outcome.…”