Materialise, a 3-D printing company and provider of personalized medical solutions, is working to accelerate the delivery of patient-specific medical implants in the United States, with the opening of a new 3-D printing facility in Plymouth Township.
Surgeons are increasingly embracing 3-D printing solutions as they recognize the added value it brings to personalized patient care, including more predictable and accurate surgical outcomes, and time savings during surgery.
At the new facility in Plymouth Township, Materialise will specialize in the 3-D printing of personalized titanium cranio-maxillofacial (CMF) implants. CMF implants are used for facial reconstructive surgery.
Until now, Materialise manufactured titanium CMF implants solely at its 3-D printing facility in Belgium. With a dedicated metal 3-D printing facility in the U.S., the company can respond to surgeons’ needs with greater reliability while significantly reducing the delivery time of fully personalized implants to hospitals across the United States.
This expansion of capabilities complements Materialise’s existing production of 3-D-printed surgical guides and anatomical models in the United States.
“With the opening of our new metal 3-D printing center in the U.S., we bring personalized care closer to U.S. patients,” says Brigitte de Vet, vice president medical at Materialise. “The power of 3-D printing paired with our three decades of experience in 3-D planning and medical manufacturing, allows us to accelerate the delivery of personalized medical implants.”
The advent of technologies such as 3-D printing and advanced visualization techniques has changed personalized patient care. Patient-specific 3D printed medical solutions include anatomical models for diagnostic purposes and surgical guides and implants to enhance accuracy and efficiency.
These solutions are designed to bolster surgeons’ comfort before and during surgery, leading to more predictable and accurate surgical outcomes. As a result, surgeons increasingly adopt 3-D printing as part of their medical practices to bring personalized care closer to patients and to reduce overall costs.
