A state-of-the-art 3D printing lab producing ultra-realistic medical models for training, surgical simulation and patient-specific anatomical modelling has been unveiled at Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.
The new facility, funded through a wider National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) infrastructure grant, boasts some of the most advanced 3D printing for the creation of lifelike surgical models available in the UK. This is helping surgeons plan most effectively for complex surgical interventions and is supporting the training of the next generation of surgeons.
The lab includes high-precision digital anatomy printers and specialised design software that create 3D models of human anatomy that look and feel like real bone and tissue.
The advanced technology, which uses printing processes similar to traditional inkjet printing, enables 3D-printed surgical models to be printed on multiple materials, including materials with tissue-like properties and in different colours. This replicates the distinct densities, textures and visual contrast of human tissue to support areas such as surgical training.
|The facility is home to one of the most 3D digital anatomy printers in the world
Tailoring patient care
The lab also incorporates next-generation 3D visualisation tools. This technology is already benefiting patients, with clinical teams using it to plan and implement complex surgical procedures, tailored to individual patient anatomies, such as for complex heart surgery days ahead of the real thing.
Clinical Scientist Dr Pete Metherall, Dr Anna Hallam and Dr Jonathan Taylor marked the opening with an official ribbon-cutting ceremony on Tuesday 23 June. Staff were also given guided tours of the lab.
Dr Pete Metherall, who led the lab's development, said: "We are extremely proud to unveil our new 3D printing lab. 3D-printed surgical models provide trainees and surgeons with anatomically accurate, patient-specific replicas to practise on before the real thing, enhancing skills and confidence. Every person's anatomy is unique to them, so this technology also offers state-of-the-art conceptualisation and planning, tailored to the patient's exact anatomy. As well as personalising care, this 3D visualisation can help improve outcomes, increase precision and reduce operating times by allowing teams to rehearse surgery using a lifelike model of the patient's tissue and organs days or weeks before the operation."
Anna Hallam, Consultant Clinical Scientist, Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, said: "This unique facility puts Sheffield Teaching Hospitals at the forefront of 3D printing for clinical applications in the NHS. The project has been brilliantly led by Dr Pete Metherall, and I would like to say a big thank you to the nuclear medicine team whose gracious relocation to the new nuclear medicine and molecular radiotherapy suite at Weston Park was vital in the lab's expansion. Further collaboration between the 3D lab team and our clinical engineers to advance 3D printing capability is also under way."
