Mount Sinai Health System announced yesterday that 3-D printing services are now available to its clinicians and researchers. The department of neurosurgery is leading a collaboration called Medical Modeling Core in which clinicians can discuss and order 3-D models for their surgical cases.

The health system will offer virtual reality simulation and 3-D printing services on a low-cost fee-for-service basis. This is the first time that clinicians at Mount Sinai will have access to models that are specific to each patient.

The clinicians use the 3-D models to plan minimally-invasive procedures, and in a trial run for the surgery. During the patient consultation process the models, along with simulation, can be of great help.



The team overseeing the 3-D printing services is led by Anthony Costa, the scientific director of the Neurosurgery Simulation Core at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. He created segmentation tools and a computer code to speed up the process of turning radiological data into 3-D models.

The Rapid Prototyping Center at the hospital is equipped with four 3-D printers and a laser cutter. The materials that are used range from gypsum powder to plastic, nylon, epoxy resin, wax, photopolymers and polycarbonate.

Mount Sinai is able to create 3-D models in days instead of weeks because of the expertise of the radiology department and printing lab. Having in-house design and production also allows them to save money — a 3-D model that would cost $500 to make at the hospital can cost ten times that through a vendor.

The neurosurgery, orthopedics, surgery, otolaryngology and cardiology departments at Mount Sinai are already on board. A few of the most recent models include skull-based tumors with surrounding vasculature and cranial nerves, spine modeling for severe scoliosis and pelvic models to plan arthroplasty.

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