3D printing technology used in surgery

A Chinese hospital has become the country's first to experiment with 3D printing technology in vascular surgery.

Huang Jianhua, director of surgery in Hunan Xiangya Hospital in central China's Hunan Province, said on Wednesday that 3D printing had been used in an operation to remove an aneurysm from a patient's abdomen. It was used to increase precision of the surgery.

He said the operation, which was completed earlier this month, involved a high level of risk because the tumor had swollen the patient's aorta from 2 cm in diameter to 6 cm.

The hospital contracted a 3D printing firm to make a 3D print of the CT scan of the patient's tumor and its surrounding blood vessels.

Surgeons used the printed model to set up intravascular tubes and remove the tumor.

3D printing is more popular in the manufacturing and construction sectors. Its application in the clinical medical field is still in an initial phase.