Tumor reconstructive surgery assisted by scale models using 3D printing

Abstract

A surgical planning of tumor reconstructive surgery requires a multidisciplinary collaboration between the surgeon, the radiologist, the nuclear medicine doctor and the pathologist. Nowadays, this team has been incorporating other profiles not related to the health field, such as engineers and researchers that favor the use of new technologies such as virtual modeling or 3D printing. In this study we describe the different phases of surgical planning of four cases of musculoskeletal tumors (knee, pelvis, femur and humerus), in which the latest technology such as virtual modeling of the anatomy of patients, the design of surgical guides and 3D printing of all models have been used. With this type of planning, surgeons are helped by being able to analyze in a millimetric way the tumor, the bone, the soft tissue, the cutting areas and to foresee the possible complications that could arise during this type of surgical intervention.