Surgeons at Fujian Medical University’s affiliated hospital were aided by an custom model of a patient’s spine, as they performed surgery to address the narrowing of his spinal canal, a condition known as spinal stenosis.

Doctors from the south China's Hunan Province recently performed a successful spinal surgery using 3D printing technology on a man suffering from spinal arthritis, leading to a severe humpback. With densely distributed nerves on spine, the surgery could have led to permanent paralysis.

Surgeons at Alder Hey Children’s Hospital became one of the first children’s hospitals in the UK to use a 3D printed model as a surgical reference during an operation. Surgeons used a 3D printed model of a spine taken from a CT scan of an eight year old patient suffering kyphoscoliosis from Wales which was provided by 3D LifePrints and Materialise.

Roberta, daughter of Fabio Gorrasi was suffering Spinal Muscular Dystrophy, when her father decided to make a 3D Printed Brace to help her using machined aluminum alloy. Inspired by his design, Sanofi Genzyme, a biotech company which specializes in development of treatments and therapies for debilitating diseases, launched Make To Care program with Maker Faire Rome 2016, inviting interested makers to submit similar ideas by June 30.

The Texas-based 4Web Medical Company has just announced that they received FDA clearance for their Lateral Interbody Fusion Devices. The platform consists of the Cervical Spine Truss System, the ALIF Spine Truss System, the Posterior Spine Truss System and the Osteotomy Truss System.  4WEB is currently developing truss implant designs for knee, hip, trauma and patient specific procedures where the patient will benefit from optimal porosity and osseous incorporation.

The Texas-Based company, 4WEB Medical earlier received the FDA clearance for the four implant systems using patented truss technology and now, they have announced the first surgeries performed using Curved Posterior Spine Truss System (PSTS) for TLIF procedures in U.S. The key feature noted by the orthopedics using this implant is the truss structure that that strengthens and reinforces the capabilities of orthopedic implants.

Florida-based Captiva Spine Inc., a privately owned medical device organization that was founded in 2007 has recently received 510(k) clearance from the FDA for its 3D Printed TirboLOX-L Titanium Lumbar Cages. TirboLOX-L Titanium Lumbar Cages uses 3D printing to form interbody fusion devices, made out of titanium alloy, with a double layer organic lattice structure and include the benefits such as the bone’s ability to successfully grow within its architecture, which can then help it achieve good kinematic properties.

A group of researchers developed an inexpensive, 3D Printable Neuraxial Anesthesia Phantom through the use of free/libre/open-source (FLOS) software and data from CT scans to create a 3D model of the lumbar spine, which was then modified, put inside a digitally designed housing unit, and 3D printed out of PLA on a desktop system. The so 3d Printed Neuraxial Anesthesia Training Model cost only $13 and 25 hours of non-supervised 3D printing and two hours to assemble it, much less than creating a Simulab phantom.

A team of engineers and medical researchers from the University of Minnesota (UMN) are working on creating Neural Scaffold that can help patients with spinal cord injury alleviate pain and gain control over functions like bladder, bowel, and muscle control again. The prototype contains 3D Printed Silicone Guide acts as a scaffold, over which neuronal stem cells are 3D Printed, which then later differentiate into neurons, and then it is implanted into the injured part of spinal cord.

A 72-year-old woman with sciatica and complex L5–S1 pseudoarthrosis 12 months after L2–S1 fixation surgery for symptomatic degenerative scoliosis required surgery to fix the complications, for which a surgical team approached her with 3D Printing. CT data from patient scans was used to develop models of the bony lumbosacral spine for pre-operative planning along with a patient-specific 3D printed titanium lumbrosacral fixation implant. 3D printing was also used to create a stereotactic drill guide. The sixth-month follow up showed promising results as explained by the team of Australian researchers.

Researchers from the Barrow Neurological Institute in Phoenix, Arizona studied the five models for use in training with simulation of both Freehand and Percutaneous Pedicle Screw Placement, with all models evaluated and then scored by junior and senior residential spine surgeons. All 3D Printed Barrow Biomimetic Spine model were created with Meshmixer software, imported back into Simplify3D software, and then 3D printed on a FlashForge Creator Pro with an affordable cost of $50-$70.

Researchers from Seoul, Korea, worked towards using 3D Printing to enhance Spine Surgeries by creating a new Endoscope-Assisted Spine Surgery System involving combined cannula, featuring one cannula for the endoscope and the other for surgical instruments, with major and minor axis diameters of 10.34 mm and 9.16 mm, respectively. The creation of Test Spine Model involved: Create 3D Design from 2D data from MRI and CT scans; 3D Print spine components; Fabricate silicone molds with the 3D printed spine components; Make spine components with required properties and Assemble the patient-specific model. Imaging data was imported to slicing software, with models then 3D printed on a Creatable D3.