Dr. Uwe Spetzger, a Professor and Chairman of the Department of Neurosurgery of the Klinikum Karlsruhe in Germany says that the first time ever, a patient suffering with a degenerative cervical spine issue has received a 3D printed, “titanium fusion” implant.  

Professor Guo Wei from the Peking University People’s Hospital is now the first to use 3D printing technology to create a sacral prosthesis that would in effect take the place of a patient's removed sacrum.

Joimax announced that they have received 510(k) clearance from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in order to market their Endoscopic Lumbar Interbody Fusion (EndoLIF® On-Cage implant) in the U.S.

Oxford Performance Materials announced that they have received 510(k) clearance from the FDA for their 3D printed SpineFab VBR System Implants, marking the first ever 3D printed polymer, load-bearing device for implantation that has received FDA clearance.

Thanks to 3D printed models, spine surgeons in China were able to plan and rehearse a difficult hunchback pin surgery and knew exactly where the pin needed to be placed, so surgical time was cut in half, and a much smaller incision was required and the inherent risk was highly reduced.

4WEB Medical recently announced at the North American Spine Society annual meeting in Chicago that the company has launched its Posterior Spine Truss System in the U.S. market. This Posterior Spine Truss System will provide treatment options to lumbar spine patients and one of the finest implants.

First 3D Printed Titanium Spinal Implant was successfully used in patient surnamed Yuan diagnosed with malignant tumor on his back. Performed at Beijing University Third Hospital, Dr. Liu Zhongjun explained how 3D Printing was the best option to be used for 19 cm replacement of backbone.

RTI Surgical Inc., a leading global surgical implant company, announced a new agreement with Oxford Performance Materials, Inc. (OPM), a pioneer in advanced materials and additive manufacturing (3-D printing) for Biomedical Applications. The agreement, effective from Feb. 4, 2016, grants RTI an exclusive license to OPM’s OsteoFab^® technology platform for Spinal Applications in all U.S. market.

Spineart has announced that it received CE marking for its new JULIET lumbar inter-body systems with Ti-LIFE Technologythat isultra-compact, sterile packed and bar-coded for increased safety, procedure compliance and cost-efficiency. The Ti-Life micro-porous scaffold mimics the bone trabecular structure and features interconnected pores of 600 μm to 700 μm and an overall porosity of 70-75% designed to enable cell colonization and promote bone in-growth.

The Texas-Based company, 4WEB Medical earlier received the FDA clearance for the four implant systems using patented truss technology and now, they have announced the first surgeries performed using Curved Posterior Spine Truss System (PSTS) for TLIF procedures in U.S. The key feature noted by the orthopedics using this implant is the truss structure that that strengthens and reinforces the capabilities of orthopedic implants.

Two companies recently announced that they have received (510)k clearance from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for 3D printed titanium spinal implants. While Camber Spine Technologies from Pennsylvania received FDA clearance for its SPIRA Open Matrix ALIF device, an interbody fusion implant; the other one was Renovis Surgical Technologies from California for its posterior lumbar Tesera porous titanium interbody fusion systems.

Florida-based Captiva Spine Inc., a privately owned medical device organization that was founded in 2007 has recently received 510(k) clearance from the FDA for its 3D Printed TirboLOX-L Titanium Lumbar Cages. TirboLOX-L Titanium Lumbar Cages uses 3D printing to form interbody fusion devices, made out of titanium alloy, with a double layer organic lattice structure and include the benefits such as the bone’s ability to successfully grow within its architecture, which can then help it achieve good kinematic properties.

Paul D’urso, MD, Anatomics Founder and a neurosurgeon at Epworth Healthcare, had reported 700 spinal fusion procedures at the recent 3DHEALS conference in San Francisco. They also developed Atlantoaxial transarticular screw fixation, an effective technique for arthrodesis and discussed how biomodelling and 3D printing are both useful tools for pre-surgical planning, developing titanium implants and patient-specific tools, and intraoperative stereotaxy – a minimally invasive surgical procedure which uses a 3D coordinate system to locate small targets inside the body and then perform an action, like an ablation, biopsy, injection, or implantation.

A 72-year-old woman with sciatica and complex L5–S1 pseudoarthrosis 12 months after L2–S1 fixation surgery for symptomatic degenerative scoliosis required surgery to fix the complications, for which a surgical team approached her with 3D Printing. CT data from patient scans was used to develop models of the bony lumbosacral spine for pre-operative planning along with a patient-specific 3D printed titanium lumbrosacral fixation implant. 3D printing was also used to create a stereotactic drill guide. The sixth-month follow up showed promising results as explained by the team of Australian researchers.

L.E.Murr, a researcher from the University of Texas at El Paso, wrote an overview of how 3D printing of Metal and Alloy Implants using powder bed fusion technologies, especially with commercial laser and electron beam systems, has rapidly emerged worldwide. He emphasized on key points: Applications of solidification fundamentals to powder bed fusion fabrication; Fundamentals of powder bed fusion AM of complex and porous biomedical implants; Design strategies for fabricating porous, optimized metal and alloy biomedical implants by powder bed fusion technologies and Examples of porous, powder-bed fabricated implants which included: Custom-built cranial/maxillofacial/implants and surgical, pre-operative models; 3D printed, open-cellular structure spinal implants; 3D implant designs for total hip arthroplasty; Total knee arthroplasty and open-cellular implant components and Complex skeletal reconstruction implants: personalization of implant fabrication through hospital point-of-care, 3D printing centers.