Materialise, Siemens, Philips, Stratasys, 3D Systems: Medical 3D Printing Partnerships and Products Introduced at 2017 RSNA Annual Meeting
The 2017 Radiological Society of North America (RSNA) Annual Meeting is taking place this week in Chicago, and some major 3D printing industry news has already been introduced at the meeting, starting with the announcement that Materialise and Siemens Healthineers are teaming up to make Materialise Mimics inPrint software available to multiple hospitals all around the world. Mimics inPrint is a dedicated solution that hospitals use to 3D print anatomical models, and thanks to the Healthineers syngo.via open app platform, the software is now available to radiologists.
Valentin Ziebandt, Head of Marketing at the Syngo Business Line at Siemens Healthineers, said, “By incorporating 3D technology into syngo.via, we jointly support the entire workflow from patient diagnosis to therapy planning. This is a cost-effective way to increase the clinical capabilities of syngo.via and an important step towards achieving personalized care and precision medicine.”
By using virtual 3D anatomical models, radiologists and surgical teams are able to collaborate on surgical planning, and the models can also be used to improve explanations of complex pathologies for the purposes of education, training, and patient communication. Mimics inPrint can be added to the standard workflow of a hospital once it’s integrated with the syngo.via platform, so patients will enjoy more personalized, cost-efficient care with easy, safe access to in-house 3D printing services powered by Materialise and its patient-specific, 3D anatomical models.
“We believe 3D printing is going to revolutionize the medical industry and we are always looking for ways to improve accessibility of our 3D printing software to more patients and hospitals. By partnering with other global healthcare leaders like Siemens Healthineers, we can do just that, and more importantly, we can further contribute to a better and healthier world,” said Brigitte de Vet, Vice President of Medical at Materialise.
Siemens Healthineers, a leader in medical imaging, laboratory diagnostics, and healthcare information technology, also showcased Materialise Mimics technology at last year’s RSNA meeting. You can learn more about its new partnership with Materialise, and Mimics inPrint software, at Materialise booth #7932 in Chicago’s McCormick Place for the RSNA Annual Meeting.
Global health technology leader Royal Philips has been very busy, as evidenced by the slew of announcements it revealed at the annual meeting, including an introduction of the latest version of its comprehensive, advanced visualization and quantification platform, IntelliSpace Portal 10. The software, which was introduced for the first time at last year’s RSNA Annual Meeting, includes a new embedded 3D modeling application, which radiologists can use to enhance their diagnostic confidence, particularly when it comes to cancer. Phoenix Children’s Hospital, which already has a long-term strategic partnership with Philips, will utilize this new application to improve patient care.
Dr. Dianna Bardo, Director Body MR and Co-Director 3D Innovation Lab, Phoenix Children’s Hospital, said, “Our collaboration with Philips has accelerated the co-creation of solutions designed to address the unique needs of pediatric patients. The 3D modeling application of IntelliSpace Portal 10 has been instrumental in receiving a more accurate picture of the details of anatomy. This is especially true as we prepare for complex procedures by determining the tumor’s exact size and seeing subtle changes over time; informing the most viable treatment choice.”
Portal 10 has multiple enhancements, such as improved workflows and applications, focused specifically on oncology, and this next generation was also expanded, through an integration with its InVivo advanced clinical visualization systems business, with DynaCAD Prostate and Breast imaging informatics solutions. This is a new clinical area for Philips, as DynaCAD Prostate and Breast offer high-performance image analysis solutions, including workspaces with image post-processing, custom hanging protocols, biopsy planning, and lesion segmentation.
IntelliSpace Portal 10 will help support appropriate imaging, increase improved outcomes and treatments, simplify data, and lower costs; it also includes a machine learning feature which is able to learn automatically from previous usage in order to predict series and data types for pre-processing applications. You can visit the Royal Philips booth #6735 at the RSNA Annual Meeting to learn more about IntelliSpace Portal 10.
The platform also interfaces with interfaces with workflows from Stratasys, which Philips has signed an agreement with to improve patient care and the clinician experience, and advance 3D printing usage in medical modeling. By combining IntelliSpace Portal 10 with Stratasys workflows, clinicians can create realistic 3D printed anatomical models for multiple uses, including education and surgical planning, from the parts-on-demand service of Stratasys Direct Manufacturing (SDM).
“Stratasys is committed to opening new doors for practitioners to prepare for procedures by opening data communication from the hospital-based imaging systems to the 3D printing products and services used to provide patient-specific modeling. Philips customers can now add the impact and value of 3D printing to their IntelliSpace environments to accelerate efficiencies and advance innovation,” explained Scott Rader, GM of Healthcare Solutions at Stratasys.
More medical professionals will benefit from the agreement between the two, which includes dedicated workflows and seamless interfacing, and allows Philips’ data management and clinical informatics customers to quickly design, order, and 3D print on-demand anatomical structures that are extremely realistic, thanks to Stratasys’ full-color, multi-material 3D printing solutions. The models are built from patient scans, and can be 3D printed in multiple textures, replicating soft tissue and hard bone and allowing physicians to plan out and train for the best surgical approach.
At the RSNA Annual Meeting this week, Stratasys is also demonstrating its new BioMimics advanced capability for 3D printing medical models.
“Testing innovative medical devices, teaching principles of surgery, providing continuing medical education, and demonstrating new products to clinicians all require ‘bench-top’ models that simulate human bodies and diseases. Much like simulation and co-piloting builds expertise for pilots, medical practitioners hone skills throughout their careers to provide exceptional care. The challenges of today’s solutions include animal models that only approximate human anatomy, and cadavers that don’t retain the live-tissue feel and often lack targeted pathology,” said Rader.
“BioMimics is a revolution in medical modeling, capitalizing on advanced 3D printing techniques for clinically accurate representations of complex human anatomies – from microscopic patterns of tissue to replicating soft to hard texture of body structures. Armed with unmatched realism of BioMimics, researchers, educators and manufacturers can finally utilize the tools to prove out new ideas long before clinical trials, and demonstrate innovations to the skilled physicians who rely on them.”
BioMimics, which will initially be offered as a service through SDM in North America, offers functionally-accurate and realistic 3D printed anatomical replicas, made with Stratasys’ PolyJet 3D printing technology. These models are designed specifically to model complex bone and heart structures, and should include vascular anatomies in early 2018.
The new BioMimics capability, the streamlined workflow offered by Stratasys and Royal Philips, and several 3D printed anatomic models will be showcased at booth #7565 in North Hall B at this week’s RSNA Annual Meeting in Chicago.
The final announcement from Philips at the meeting is its new partnership with 3D Systems. The agreement between the two companies was signed in order to increase medical progress with better planning and patient outcomes. Philips’ customers will be able to expedite 3D printed medical models in order to gain a better understanding of difficult patient anatomies.
Kevin McAlea, Executive Vice President, Healthcare and Metals Business Units, 3D Systems, said, “Through our agreement with Philips, 3D Systems is furthering its commitment to advancing clinical performance and optimizing procedural outcomes through education and collaboration. We are happy to play a role in providing a comprehensive solution that will help clinicians and hospitals meet the unique challenges they are facing in today’s value-based care environment through the use of 3D modeling tools.”
In addition, 3D Systems also introduced its new D2P (DICOM to PRINT) technology at the meeting, which will help radiologists and clinicians use medical imaging data to rapidly make accurate, digital 3D anatomical models. The Volume Virtual Reality (VR) technology – a first in the industry – lets physicians upload scan data from patients to D2P, and immediately see VR medical datasets in virtual reality without having to deal with lengthy segmentation or pre-processing. By using visualization in VR, users are able to gain a better understanding of the scale and structure of a patient’s anatomy, which can be a big help for surgical pre-planning.
The company will also be demonstrating examples of its 3D printed patient-specific medical models in three different materials, 3D printed using different technologies, at its booth #1717 at the RSNA Annual Meeting.
“In just over a decade, 3D printing has made patient-specific anatomical models routine,” said Evan Garfein, M.D., Chief, Division of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Montefiore Health System. “From pre-surgical planning to using the models as guides in the operating room, these tools have made complex procedures more simple and precise. With the arrival of D2P software we now have advanced software and 3D printers that are accessible to surgeons at the point-of-care. It is the beginning of a new era in personalized medicine and surgical 3D printing.”
Tomorrow morning from 9 to 10:30 CT, at S101AB, McCormick Place, Philips is hosting a 3D Printing Symposium, where clinicians will explain the latest 3D integrated workflows for 3D printing medical models for training and educational purposes. You can RSVP for the event here.
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