Materialise, Surgeons Complete Double Hand and Face Transplant

In the present case, a 22-year old patient suffered burn wounds resulting from a car accident. He was left with severe injuries to his face and both arms. He suffered significant damage to his soft tissue, which severely limited his ability to lead a normal life. During a preparation period of 14 months, Materialise clinical engineers teamed up with NYU Langone surgeons. They rehearsed the operation in a lab environment to develop and fine-tune a surgical plan.

Materialise engineers created an on-screen 3D model based on CT-scans. This model allowed the surgeons and clinical engineers to virtually plan the procedure and visualize different scenarios in three dimensions, creating an in-depth understanding of the patient’s anatomical bone structure and helping to determine the optimal surgical flow. Pre-surgical planning also made it possible for surgeons to virtually select and position various medical implants to predict the optimal anatomical fit. Once the surgical plan was finalized, Materialise 3D printed the personalized surgical guides, anatomical models and tools for use during the transplant surgery.

The team, led by Dr. Eduardo D. Rodriguez, the Helen L. Kimmel Professor of Reconstructive Plastic Surgery and chair of the Hansjörg Wyss Department of Plastic Surgery at NYU Langone, had only 24 hours to begin the procedure once a suitable donor was found.

Rodriguez and his surgical team of sixteen used Materialise’s 3D printed cutting and drilling guides during the procedure. This fully guided system for bone fragment repositioning and fixation was unique to the patient’s anatomy. It helped precisely position the medical tools, which reduced the overall surgery time. Additionally, Materialise created 3D printed sterilizable identification tags for nerves and blood vessels, 3D printed models that were used during donor transport, and 3D printed splints, thus enabling optimal donor hand position during soft tissue reconstruction.

“Complex transplant surgery like this brings together a large team of specialists and presents new and unique challenges”, said Dr. Rodriguez. “This demands careful planning and makes timing, efficiency and accuracy absolutely critical. Virtually planning the surgery in 3D and creating 3D printed, patient-specific tools offers additional insights in the pre-operative phase and increased levels of speed and accuracy during a time-critical surgery”.

“Image-based planning and medical 3D printing have completely revolutionized personalized patient care by providing surgeons with detailed insights and an additional level of confidence before entering the operation room,” said Bryan Crutchfield, Materialise’s Vice President and General Manager – North America. “As a result, leading hospitals are adopting 3D planning and printing services as part of their medical practices because they create a level of predictability that would be impossible to achieve without the use of 3D technologies.”