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Thank you for joining our webinar on 3D Printing At The Point of Care!
Guest speakers included:
- Tom Cosker, Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon, Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre NHS, Oxford
- Satheesh Prabhu, Consultant Oral & Maxillo Surgeon, Churchill Hospital NHS, Oxford
- Iain Hennessey, Consultant Pediatric Surgeon, Alder Hey Children’s Hospital, Liverpool
- Professor Tim Board, Consultant Hip & Knee Surgeon, Wrightington Hospital
- Henry Wynn-Jones, Consultant Orthopaedic & Trauma Surgeon, Wrightington Hospital
Topics included:
- Setting up and running embedded medical 3D printing facilities
- Creation of high fidelity patient specific anatomical models for pre and intra-surgical use
- Design, Virtual planning and the creation of cranio-maxillo facial implants and guides
- Patient specific bone like models for orthopaedic simulation & surgical planning
- Creation of highly complex anatomical models for education & research
- Tissue mimicking anatomical solutions for advanced simulation
- Creation of in-hospital solutions during Covid-19 times
- In-house training and remote 3D segmentation services
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QUESTIONS & ANSWERS FROM WEBINAR
How can we access your services in the US?
We have just recently incorporated in the USA and plan to start providing on the ground Point of Care Medical 3D Printing services in 2021. However, depending on your requirements we are able to offer Remote 3D segmentation and printing services in advance for areas such as anatomical models, CMF guides & implants, phantoms and surgical simulation solutions - please contact paul@3dlifeprints.com for more details.
What machines do you usually rely on for starting a POC 3DP centre in the hospital?
It depends on the institution that we are providing Point of Care Services to - for example orthopaedic focused institutions might require technologies for bone like models, surgical guides and implants. This could be fulfilled by FDM/SLS and Metal printers with custom polymer derivatives/Nylon 12/Titanium.
What regulatory or export control regulations do you foresee are needed to use your services in the US?
3D LifePrints services have been developed to meet EU standards and regulations. Many of these will fit reasonably well within the framework of USA regulatory systems but it is not a 100% match. Depending on the type of product / service required there may be additional steps required.
3D LifePrints are in the process of setting up a USA entity that will make the process of procuring our products and services in the USA much easier.
Which 3d printers are you utilising?
We are technology agnostic, and use 3D printers from a wide variety of manufacturers covering FDM/SLA/SLS/Polyjet/Metal to fit the requirements of our clients.
Do you use multijet or SLA 3D printing technologies?
We use a variety of Multijet technologies for the creation of devices, while we have used SLA technology in the past we prefer other technologies for a variety of reasons including material choices and size of buildplates.
Are you doing any work in bioprinting? e.g. using scaffolds for tissue regeneration
We have been working with the University of Oxford on bio-resorbable scaffolds specifically towards printing PCL structures - more info here - http://om3dp.3dlifeprints.com/
Have you explored bioresorbable materials yet?
We do work with bio-resorbable materials although mainly from an R&D perspective at this stage for example in scaffolds for wound management
Which kind of screws / from which companies can be used with your patient specific implants?
3D LifePrints works closely with their clients to provide custom-made devices (guides and implants) which are both adapted to the patient and to the surgeon. The design requirements are determined with the surgeon, based on their clinical choices, which includes the tooling (such as the screws used during the surgery). Provided we have the design files and necessary approvals, we can provide patient-specific devices adapted to any kind of screw.
How much does it cost you to set up a lab like this inside hospitals?
There are a variety of service models that can be provided, and depends on a number of factors including types of devices required and volume. We have shown over the years that our in-house service offering is more cost competitive than if a hospital / medical institution were to do it themselves - please follow this link for further information - https://www.3dlifeprints.com/products-services/embedded-hubs/
Can I ask what printer you use to print anatomical models?
It will depend on the usage of the model - this could be in a rigid single colour or multi colour, multiple materials - e.g. does the clinician want to cut or suture the model. Stratasys technology is our major preference (across both FDM and Polyjet) for high fidelity models.
As a healthcare provider wanting to benefit from the technology, what's the reimbursement pathway for these technologies? E.g. will the NHS reimburse for using these pre-operative models to plan surgery? And if familiar, what are your thoughts on the US CPT codes for 3D printing?
Unfortunately (for 3D printing companies) there are no national re-imbursement codes in the NHS specifically for patient specific printed medical devices (including anatomical models), however we hope that this will change soon. For certain areas such as complex devices for orthopaedics and CMF there are centralised reimbursement routes available that can sometimes be used. Funding is therefore generally obtained in the NHS at a Department or Trust level and on a contract or piece by piece basis. The US is certainly more mature when it comes to a framework for reimbursement for Class 1/2a/3 patient specific devices and we see good momentum to widen its use and scope.
What metric do you use to assess the utility of educational models for student or patient education?
For clinicians or surgeons in training, the use of 3D technologies to enhance education can be measured in a variety of ways - e.g. "Does practice doing tasks on the simulated model lead to increased proficiency on the real tasks?" For patient education / communications, it is more qualitative in providing a more effective means to explain the procedure about to happen, but in some cases it can lead to patients choosing to not have or postpone a particular operation as they become more well informed. In our work with the Oxford universities Anatomy department, students are given an extra session using the anatomical models as teaching aides. The students then fill a feedback form to assess if the 3D model session increased their understand or helped them retain the information better. So far the results have been positive and Oxford is adopting more anatomy models into their curriculum.
Do you have any experience 3D printing assistive devices or prosthetics?
3D LifePrints began its journey as a social enterprise in Kenya to provide 3D printed upper body prosthetics for developing world amputees 8 years ago. We pionerred with the "LifeAarm" - https://www.3dlifeprints.com/humanitarian/products-services/ and still continue today to work with medical institutions across the globe on prosthetics and orthotics.
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