Point of Care Biomodel Use in Auckland, New Zealand

Article from New Zealand

James is a specialist Oral & Maxillofacial Surgeon, practicing both publicly and privately in Auckland, NZ.

In Auckland, the use of in-house, 3-D printed patient-specific biomodels has transformed our practice.

Over the last 10 years, we have collaborated with our colleagues in the engineering department to set up and continually improve this process. With access to same-day turnaround of sterilised biomodels, it now forms part of our daily clinical practice.

This allows us to deliver high quality, personalized and cost-effective care to our patients.

On average, we reconstruct 30 – 40 orbital fractures per year through our unit. Most of these employ patient specific titanium implants, which have been pre-adapted on biomodels and sterilised in advance. The same process is adopted for selected mandibular fractures, repaired with pre-adapted reconstruction plates. We perform 10 -15 such cases via trans-cervical access, each year. We also frequently print biomodels of midface and

upper third trauma, to have on hand during surgery. This helps aid fracture reduction and fixation planning.

We have found multiple useful applications for these biomodels:

• Pre-adapting plates saves surgical time and improves accuracy

• Less consumables are used

• Reduced overall cost of treatment

• Allows for improved planning of cases

• Useful for patient consent to help explain procedures

• Useful teaching tool for junior and allied staff

• Useful for medical records