Source : sygnis
Many times, brain surgeries are quite complex operations. It is a more difficult process if the surgery is performed on a baby or child. However, in Rzeszow, Poland, surgeons used a 3D printer to create a skull for a newborn baby who was born with a fifth of her skull.
Sygnis, a Warsaw-based technology company specialising in 3D printing, has helped and saved the life of a newborn baby with a critically underdeveloped cranium by printing the exact model of the baby’s skull in one day.
If the surgery was not scheduled within 4 days, the baby would be vulnerable to a variety of infections.
The lifesaving 1:1 model of the newborn’s skull was created in response to an urgent request for assistance from surgeons at the Upper Silesian Centre of Child Health and doctors at the enable Polska Foundation.
All projects stopped to save the baby
According to Sygnis, after receiving the project file, 2 engineers began printing the 3D skull model required for the baby. The company also stated that they did not want to put baby at risk, so they used 2 different technologies:
- The first model was created using SLS (selective laser sintering) technology realised on Sinterit Lisa Pro 3D printer with PA12 powder. Time to complete – 24 hours
- The second model is created using SLA technology (printing technology that hardening photosensitive resins layer by layer) made on the FlashForge Photo 8.9sz 3D printer, with the standard resin in white. 8 hours for execution.
Sygnis also halted all 3D printing projects in order to save the baby’s life and completed the baby’s skull project in 26 hours.
SLA and SLS Printing technology
Choice of resin technology (SLA) on FlashForge Photo 8.9s 3D printer’s was used to quickly obtain an illustrative printout for evaluation by specialists prior to printing in SLS technology. However, the model for preoperative surgical training was 3D printed using SLS technology and polyamide (PA12) printing. Powder technology allows for 3D printing without the use of support structures, allowing for the perfect reproduction of geometrically complex bone structures.
