Before a patient’s scoliosis surgery, physicians use the 3D printer to make a model of the patient’s spine to practice the procedure and determine the proper entry point for the hardware to properly address spinal curvature.
“We take a CT scan, we’re able to load that CT scan into the computer, 3D model it, and then at every level that we determine that we need to fuse, we’re able to create a patient-specific guide for that level, ” Joseph DeWitt, MD, a pediatric orthopedic surgeon at Sparrow Hospital and McLaren Greater Lansing Hospital, told WKAR. “This allows us to very, very accurately and safely place our hardware, which consists primarily of screws, a couple of hooks, and then rods. “
Dr. DeWitt has completed 20 surgeries using the 3D modeling technology.
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