Aplication of the stereolithography technique in complex spine surgery

• Autor(a) principal: Paiva,Wellingson Silva
• Data de Publicação: 2007
• Outros Autores: Amorim,Robson, Bezerra,Douglas Alexandre França, Masini,Marcos
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Arquivos de neuro-psiquiatria (Online)
• Texto Completo: http://old.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0004-282X2007000300015
• topic: spine surgery; rapid prototyping; stereolithography

Many techniques have been proposed for surgical training as a learning process for young surgeons or for the simulation of complex procedures. Stereolithograpfy, a rapid prototyping technique, has been presented recently as an option for these purposes. We describe the case of a 12 years old boy, diagnosed with Ewing´s sarcoma in the cervical spine. After a surgical simulation accomplished in the prototype, built by stereolithography, the patient was submitted to a C4 corpectomy and to a C4 and C3 laminectomy with anterior and posterior fixation, a non intercurrence procedure. This technique is an innovative and complementary tool in diagnosis and therapy. As a result, it is easier for the surgeon to understand the complexity of the case and plan the approach before any surgical procedure.