Dive Brief:
- Buffalo, N.Y.-based The Jacobs Institute and medical device manufacturer Stratasys Ltd. have collaborated to enable the creation of 3D models of a patient's vascular system and brain aneurysm.
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The method results in models that are completed in 24 hours, cost just a few hundred dollars, and utilize a flexible photopolymer material that feels like human tissue.
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The creators say surgeons can now see precisely what a patient's unique vascular structure looks like in 3D so they can plan the best treatment approach and practice in advance.
Dive Insight:
While medical 3D printing itself isn't news, these recent developments will advance pre-operative planning and simulations, as well as training opportunities, its proponents suggest, with the ability to quickly and affordably recreate a patient's vascular system from their groin to their brain.
In addition, researchers are working to further the process to mimic everything from the surface tension of the blood vessels to the distensibility of the vasculature, Computer World reports, which varies from flexible in the brain to harder in the heart.
"By 3D printing models that mimic vascular feel, we can create an approach I don't think is achievable any other way," the publication quoted Michael Springer, director of operations at The Jacobs Institute.