Contribution of 3D printing to mandibular reconstruction after cancer

Abstract

Three-dimensional (3D) printing is booming in the medical field. This technology increases the possibilities of personalized treatment for patients, while lowering manufacturing costs. To facilitate mandibular reconstruction with fibula free flap, some companies propose cutting guides obtained by CT-guided moulding. However, these guides are prohibitively expensive (€2,000 to €6,000). Based on a partnership with the CNRS, engineering students and a biomedical company, the authors have developed cutting guides and 3D-printed mandible templates, deliverable in 7days and at a lower cost. The novelty of this project is the speed of product development at a significantly lower price. In this technical note, the authors describe the logistic chain of production of mandible templates and cutting guides, as well as the results obtained. The goal is to allow access to this technology to all patients in the near future.

Clinical evaluation of an automated virtual surgical planning platform for mandibular reconstruction

“…A wave of virtual surgical planning (VSP) has recently emerged as an improvement on the traditional freehand approach. [3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12] Although the specifics of VSP vary, they all follow the general workflow of segmenting radiological data to create a 3D model, planning on the model, and using surgical guides to carry out the reconstruction plan. Generally, VSP can be divided into three modes: external planning through a commercial planning service in which the surgeon has a virtual meeting with the third party, 7,9,11 in-house planning using commercial dedicated planning software, 4,5,10 and, less commonly, in-house planning using a custom software workflow.…”

“…Generally, VSP can be divided into three modes: external planning through a commercial planning service in which the surgeon has a virtual meeting with the third party, 7,9,11 in-house planning using commercial dedicated planning software, 4,5,10 and, less commonly, in-house planning using a custom software workflow. 3,8,12 VSP has been shown to reduce operating and ischemia time, [4][5][6]13 and in some cases shown to improve the accuracy of reconstructions compared to the standard freehand approach. 4,5,14 The drawback of commercial options is that they are expensive, on This work has not been published or presented anywhere.…”

“…the order of thousands of dollars extra per case, 4,6,8,12 and are often black box solutions lacking a geometric analysis guiding the particular solution. An additional benefit to in-house planning systems is that creators have direct access to results of the surgeries and can use those results to improve the process.…”

Efficacy of three-dimensionally printed polycaprolactone/beta tricalcium phosphate scaffold on mandibular reconstruction

“…In recent years, the development of three-dimensional printing (3DP) technology for tissue engineering has contributed to increased speed and precision from planning to operation in maxillofacial reconstruction 6 . 3DP technology has been researched in manufacturing scaffolds with growth factor in conjunction with a surgical guide and template.…”

Reconstruction of Large Skeletal Defects: Current Clinical Therapeutic Strategies and Future Directions Using 3D Printing

“…3D printing prototype models can significantly assist with preoperative evaluation and intraoperative procedures, for example for the use of surgical guides in mandibular reconstruction with osteocutaneous flaps (Bosc et al, 2017;Dupret-Bories et al, 2018). These studies showed the advantages of using 3D printed preoperative models and surgical guides including a reduction in operating time, flap ischemia, morbidity and associated complications such as infections.…”