Stereolithography (medicine)

Stereolithography models are used in medicine since the 90s to manufacture from CT image data physical models.

Use

  • Stereolithography models are used to obtain a three-dimensional overview of the anatomical situation of a patient. Since the quality of the preparation of three-dimensional image data has been increasing on a computer, this indication, however, plays a much smaller role.
  • It can also be scheduled operations on these models, for example, by sawing a model and repositioning of the bone parts in advance of osteotomies.
  • Transplanted bone segments or osteosynthesis plates may be preformed on a stereo lithography model.

Today's meaning

Stereolithography models have lost on the computer in importance because of their high cost and because of the increasing shift of surgical planning.

Special feature in the manufacture

Because the plastic of a stereolithography model shrinks during polymerization, the model from the CT data set must be made ​​initially slightly larger.

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