Stratasys announced it is teaming with SSM Health Cardinal Glennon Children’s Hospital in St. Louis, Missouri to launch an advanced 3D printing “Center of Excellence” – designed to accelerate innovation in pre-surgical preparedness, medical research and patient treatment. Open now, the center leverages Stratasys 3D printing technology to develop and share best-practices throughout a range of specialties including neurosurgery, orthopedics, cardiac treatment, as well as hand and cranial maxillofacial reconstructive surgery.
Listed by U.S. News and World Report as a “Best Children’s Hospital,” this nationally-ranked pediatric academic medical center fully invests in the latest technologies to serve medical needs of children today and tomorrow. At the foundation of this commitment is Stratasys 3D printing technology, encouraging SLUCare (the physician practice at Cardinal Glennon Children’s Hospital) doctors and surgeons to explore new approaches for advancing patient well-being. SSM Health Cardinal Glennon currently leverages the Stratasys J750 3D Printer – the world’s only full-color, multi-material solution delivering unmatched material versatility and realism.
“As a leading pediatric care and academic research facility, we’re committed to continuous improvement by harnessing cutting-edge tools like 3D printing. The Stratasys J750 full-color, multi-material 3D printing solution allows us to do just that – powering unprecedented breakthroughs in planning and treatment,” said Steven Burghart, President of SSM Health Cardinal Glennon Children’s Hospital. “Our Center of Excellence stems from a long-standing partnership withStratasys, working together to raise the bar in all that’s possible in patient care.”
The Stratasys J750 3D Printer enables medical facilities to build highly realistic, patient-specific anatomical models with consistent color results and lifelike textures. Based on PolyJet technology, the system combines both flexible and rigid plastics in a single print to accurately mimic hard bone and soft tissues. Fine resolution recreates minute details such as thin vascular walls, while blended transitions and transparencies consistently produce anatomically correct properties.
Alexander Lin, MD, FACS, SLUCare plastic surgeon, is the co-founder of the 3D Printing Center at SSM Health Cardinal Glennon and also serves as its surgical director. According to Dr. Lin, “3D printing provides increased confidence in the operating room and results in a faster, more efficient operation. In a recent plastic surgery reconstruction of a skull defect, we used a 3D printed intraoperative guide that matched the skull defect precisely. Without hesitation, we could use this guide to create a precisely shaped bone graft that perfectly matched the skull defect. In the past, this process would have been estimated, which can lead to longer surgery with higher risk of brain and blood loss, and a less precisely fitted reconstruction.”
“Numerous advances have expanded treatment options for patients, particularly those who need highly advanced medical care,” says Scott Rader, GM of Healthcare Solutions at Stratasys. “Stratasys depends on our clinical partners to demonstrate patient benefit using 3D printing in training and the flow of patient care. To fully realize Dr. Lin’s vision of optimizing treatment, there needs to be greater collaboration between industry and thought leading institutions to create standards, best-practices and to develop the fact base on how to get the most from a hospital-based 3D printing program. Led by some of the industry’s most respected medical professionals and backed by Stratasys technology, SSM Health Cardinal Glennon Children’s Hospital’s new Center of Excellence will quickly become the gold standard that demonstrates all that can be accomplished with medical 3D printing.”
Since 1956, SSM Health Cardinal Glennon Children’s Hospital has offered the highest level of care as the country’s only free-standing, non-profit Catholic pediatric hospital. Located in St. Louis, MO, SSM Health Cardinal Glennon provides hope to thousands of children with complex conditions from Missouri, Illinois and beyond. A member of SSM Health, one of the largest Catholic health care systems in the county, the 195-bed teaching hospital is staffed by SLUCare physicians affiliated with the Saint Louis University School of Medicine. Since 2013, U.S. News & World Report has recognized SSM Health Cardinal Glennon as a Best Children’s Hospital. In every way, SSM Health Cardinal Glennon lives out the SSM Health mission, “Through our exceptional health care services, we reveal the healing presence of God.”
