FORWARD
Fit to Print
FROM DIAGNOSIS TO TREATMENT, TAMPA GENERAL HOSPITAL AND USF HEALTH ARE LEADERS IN 3D PRINTING TECHNOLOGY BY SETH SOFFIAN
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ummer Decker, PhD, was describing the look and feel of a human liver—tough and dense, with complex vasculature and distinct segments—when she darted away for something better than words. She returned to her office in the radiology department holding an exact replica, created on a 3D printer, of a cancer patient’s actual liver. Immediately clear on the multicolored, multi-textured object was the precise location of the mass that needed to be removed and the intricate blood vessels that surgeons would need to navigate in order to do so. “We’ve been able to give [surgeons] a clear version, so they know exactly where that tumor is and exactly where the vessels are,” said Decker, a key figure leading the internationally renowned 3D printing efforts at Tampa General Hospital and director of 3D clinical applications, vice chair for research and innovation in radiology, and
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associate professor at the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine at the University of South Florida. Sophisticated models like the one Decker displayed provide doctors in cardiology, oncology, trauma, and other disciplines with more than just an all-angles look at complex problems. They also allow physicians to test different devices and techniques for optimum fit and suitability before performing surgical procedures. Printing capabilities are so good— down to the micron level, equal to one thousandth of a millimeter—that they surpass what X-rays, MRIs, CT scans, and other images can provide. “Even the finest scan cannot be as good as what the printers can print,” Decker said. Having seven of the most state-of-the-art 3D printers available enables the TGH and USF Health team to create models in rapid fashion, revolutionizing how physicians envision and execute treatment plans.
ADVANCES
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