printing technology, particularly for resident education. “You can do
these cases that you might not normally see during residency [with
3-D printed models],” said Dr. Sweet, a professor of urology. “If we’re
going to credential people to do things that they’ve never seen, that’s
problematic. 3-D printing offers us the ability to essentially immortalize these rare cases and create a library of opportunities for students for
things that they might see during their residency or training program.”
Katherine A. Barsness, MD, MSCi, FACS, pediatric surgeon; director, surgical simulation at Ann and Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital
of Chicago; and associate professor of surgery and medical education,
Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, IL,
said she has been using 3-D printers at Northwestern Simulation since
2011 to create new tools to train surgeons in her specialty. 7 Dr. Barsness also spoke at the ACS-AEI Emerging Technologies in Simulation
panel session on the topic of hybrid simulation—the use of surgically
modified real tissue placed into 3-D printed thoracic and abdominal
cavities. In an interview, Dr. Barsness said, “Specifically, it started in
pediatric surgery. It was used to work with the size limitations inherent to neonatal surgery—when you’re trying to simulate that small
space, 3-D printing is the most accurate way we’re able to do that. It
has allowed us to create size-appropriate, anatomically correct teaching aids, so that no longer is a newborn infant exposed to the risk of
the learning curve; rather, the learning curve is borne on the back of
the simulation,” which is especially meaningful with the fragile tissue
at play in neonates.
The educational and training benefits of the technology also extend
to experienced surgeons. “There’s a technology called flow diversion,
which is used to treat complex brain aneurysms. There are physicians
who have done a few cases as a part of their training, but the condition
is relatively rare,” Dr. Siddiqui said. To enhance their understanding of
the condition, he and his colleagues at The Jacobs Institute have developed an advanced users course, in which physicians from all over the
world fly into Buffalo and spend a couple of days at the institute watching surgeons perform live demonstrations of complex cases. “Then we
3-D print some of those cases and have the physicians practice on the
Violet before her
operation
3-D models used for planning and
performing Violet’s operation
V101 No 7 BULLETIN American College of Surgeons
14 |
3-D PRINTING AND SURGICAL CARE
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