Dr Gavin O’Neill from the Department of Orthopedic Surgery at National University Hospital (NUH) had a patient who was suffering from unstable Pelvic Fractures. After the patient’s condition was stabilized, Dr Gavin needed a quicker and more reliable way to plan for the surgery.

After receiving the DICOM from the hospital, AuMed (previously known as Creatz3D Medical) quickly produced a 3D model of the patient’s fragmented pelvis that was ready to be 3D printed.

Although the 3D image processing (conversion from 2-dimensional to 3-dimensional) took less than 30 minutes, the 3D printing process took 36 hours (1.5 days) due to the sheer size of the anatomy.

Fortunately, the (very effective) surgical team factored in the printing duration and when they received the pelvic simulator, the team was able began “operating” on the simulator immediately.

“Bone dust” was seen while the surgical team was cutting, sawing and drilling on the simulator. Dr Gavin re-aligned the fragments to their intended corrective positions using rods and pins, and took metal plates and started bending and shaping them onto the contour of the assembled fragments.

The metal plates were then sterilized accordingly at the hospital prior to use in the patient.

Click the Download button to obtain the PDF of the case study for reference. To purchase similar models like the replica of the patient’s pelvis, please visit the AuMed Series of our Shop page.