Dr. Singh
Dr. Keel
extremely dynamic technology—the printers that are out there could
be outdated within the next two years. However, you do see situations where organizations are leasing the technology and equipment
or partnering with another entity,” said Dr. Singh.
Drs. Singh and Keel emphasized the importance of quality metrics
as a key to reimbursement, particularly if 3-D printing technology can
be linked to better outcomes and enhanced efficiency.
Hurdles to adoption
At least three primary limitations are associated with 3-D printing
technology for use in surgical models—slow build times, a lack of
autonomy, and expensive equipment and software costs. Build times
for a single model can last from a few hours to an entire day and can
vary depending on whether the 3-D printer is housed on-site or with
an outside company. “Speed is one of the things that developers are
currently working on,” Dr. Keel said. “It depends on the type of organ
you are printing. They’ve printed a whole brain before, and obviously,
that takes more time than it does to print a kidney, particularly if it’s
a smaller kidney.”
Another challenge to wide adoption of 3-D printing is the training
involved in mastering the scan conversion software; as a result, sur-
geons must typically rely on experts in printer technology to generate
models. 11 “A lot of these printers need babysitters to sit and watch as
they are printing because there can be errors [or because] you have
to switch out the materials,” Dr. Sweet said.
“The reality is that there is a huge amount of infrastructure that
needs to be developed [by a hospital] before the first case,” Dr. Woo
added. “Not only do you need to have a 3-D printer available, which
is a significant cost in and of itself, you also need the technical exper-
tise to be able to manipulate the data in order to create the model
that you want, and generally that’s not something that surgeons can
do themselves.”
Furthermore, medical-grade printers are expensive and cover a
range of price points. According to Dr. Sweet, high-end 3-D printers
can cost up to $850,000 depending on the scale, number of inks, and
performance capabilities of the device. At the low end of the market,
namely the consumer market, 3-D printers sell for as low as $140.
“Most of the market right now is either on the low end or the high
end, but what’s interesting is the merging [of the two markets] right in
the middle,” said Dr. Sweet. “This emerging middle market is where
you are getting some of the capabilities of the high-end machines, but
with lower costs driven by scale and so on, and this is what we need.”
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