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Category: 3D Printing

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MLA Medical Library Association. Better information. Better Decisions. Partner with your medical librarian.

October is National Medical Librarian Month! True to this year’s theme, librarians and staff at Himmelfarb Library can help you find ‘Better Information’ to help you make ‘Better Decisions.’ You might be surprised at the number of resources and services we provide. Whether you’re looking for help performing a literature search, installing clinical apps like Lexidrug or DynaMed, working on a systematic review, or navigating the scholarly publishing landscape, accessing materials at other local academic libraries (and beyond), Himmelfarb can help!

General Himmelfarb Statistics

To give you an idea of the wide variety of resources and services Himmelfarb Library offers, here’s an overview of some general Himmelfarb statistics from the last academic year:

General InformationUse
In-Person Library Visits141,680
Library Catalog Searches1,229,787
Research Guide Views1,501,277
CollectionsTotals
Physical Volumes Owned70,703
Unique Book Titles29,479
Journal Titles6,600
Databases120
Borrowing & UsageUse
Journal Usage1,211,421
Database Usage269,835
Physical Items Borrowed3,280

It’s clear from the above data that Himmelfarb users are visiting our physical space and using our physical collections, electronic journals, databases, and research guides. 

Himmelfarb Services

Himmelfarb librarians and staff provided valuable services to support education, research, and clinical care. From answering reference questions through our Ask a Librarian service, providing in-depth reference consultations, processing 3D printing requests, and borrowing books and articles from other libraries for our users, we’ve been busy! Here’s a look at what we’ve done in these areas during the last academic year:

ServicesUse
Reference Questions Answered1,661
Reference Consultations441
3D Printing Jobs Completed100
Docs2Go & CLS Items Borrowed1,839

Health Sciences Research Commons

Himmelfarb’s institutional repository, the Health Sciences Research Commons (HSRC), also had a busy year. The HSRC is where you can archive your scholarly works, including articles, conference papers, poster presentations, working papers, datasets, and other scholarly works. Works archived in the HSRC are indexed in Google Scholar, which can help your work get noticed. Just take a look at the number of times works archived in the HSRC have been downloaded below:

Health Sciences Research CommonsTotals
Total Works Archived50,821
Total Works Downloaded1,866,330
Works Archived (24-25 Academic Year)2,744
Works Downloaded (24-25 Academic Year)462,161

Thank You, Himmelfarb Librarians & Staff!

In honor of National Medical Librarians Month, we’d like to say thank you to every Himmelfarb staff member for all of the hard work and dedication they put into every single day! Without our amazing staff and librarians, we wouldn’t be able to provide our students, faculty, and staff with the services and resources they need to pursue their educational, research, and clinical care goals every day. 

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Himmelfarb's 3D printing service continues to aid students in their health sciences education, but if you're new to our printers, you can find instructions on finding .stl files and submitting jobs here), or you can check out Five 3D Printing Use Cases for Health Science Students or Five MORE 3D Printing Use Cases for Health Sciences Students if you want to see some immediately usable 3D printing medical applications.

In those articles, we highlighted use cases like surgery practice with this temporal bone model:

Or how filaments like Z-flex, which can be requested on the Google Form, allow for a greater range of pliability in model options.

Silicone in 3D Printing

But in this article, we want to highlight the use of silicone to enhance the instructional range of 3D printing. For example, by encasing the hand-bones in silicone, students can practice resetting a broken wrist.

A #D printed model of the hand and wrist bones that has been encased in silicone.

Molds: Inversion Printing

In Five MORE 3D Printing Use Cases for Health Sciences Students, we mentioned how print jobs can utilize negative space to fill with silicone to create objects like a suture practice board.

But you can also use negative space in its own right, like this trachea box, designed to allow the practice of endoscopic tools for emergency medicine and other applications.

A 3D printed model of the trachea interior.

This is just one example of how surgery can be practiced more easily – and much more cheaply – in the 3D printing age. You can find many models online at Thingiverse.com or at NIH 3D!

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When most people think of a library, the first thing that comes to mind is books. But there’s more to Himmelfarb Library than just books, journals, databases, and research help. Himmelfarb has some exciting technology resources, including free 3D printing, Virtual Reality (VR) headsets, and a variety of anatomy resources like BodyViz, Primal Pictures Real Time Functional Anatomy, and our anatomy models.

3D Printing

Himmelfarb offers free 3D printing to all faculty, staff, and students of the School of Medicine and Health Sciences, the Milken Institute School of Public Health, the School of Nursing, and the MFA. 

Picture of 3D printed objects including a bust of George Washington, a skull, and a heart.

From custom prosthetics and implants to pharmaceutical research in drug dosage and delivery, 3D printing has numerous uses in the medical field. For students, 3D printing can be a fantastic learning tool. Students often use Himmelfarb’s 3D printers to print complex anatomical and molecular models. There are endless use cases for 3D printing in medical education, including heart and hand bone models, and negative space molds similar to the one used to create this silicone model of a human heart: 

Picture of a 3D silicone heart made from a 3D printed mold.

3D printing at Himmelfarb is as easy as completing a submission form! You’ll need an STL file (a blueprint of the print job) of the model you’d like to print. You can find high-quality, free 3D printing libraries online. Some great options include NIH 3D, Thingiverse, or Zortrax Library. If you have questions about 3D printing, contact Randy Plym (randy.plym@gwu.edu) or Catherine Sluder (crharris@gwu.edu). 

VR Headsets

Picture of virtual reality headsets and hand controls.

Our VR headsets come preloaded with the Medicalholodeck Medical VR platform, which includes Anatomy Master XR, Medical Imaging XR, and Dissection Master XR. Medicalholodeck is part cadaver lab and part textbook. You can explore high-resolution dissections layer-by-layer. The video demonstration below gives you an idea of what you’ll experience with Medicalholodeck:

VR headsets also have apps that can help you relax and relieve stress. Check out the guided meditation, nature treks, and National Geographic Explore VR apps on the headsets to take a break from the stress of life and recharge.

Want to give the VR headsets a try? Join us for our monthly VR headset demos, held on the last Wednesday of every month. Our next demo is on August 27, 2025, from 2:00 pm - 4:00 pm on the first floor near the New Books shelf and the Circulation Desk.

BodyViz

Like Medicalholodeck, BodyViz is an interactive anatomy visualization tool that lets you view, study, and manipulate 3D anatomical structures. You can zoom in or out and rotate anatomical models to view them from different angles. You can also change the brightness, contrast, and color based on tissue density to highlight or filter out bone, muscles, organs, or vasculature. The BodyViz slicing software lets you digitally dissect models with precision, allowing for detailed inspection of the model. Preloaded with more than 1,000 datasets of human and animal models in healthy and pathological states, and different developmental stages, BodyViz is an amazing tool to help you take your anatomy knowledge to the next level!

BodyViz is available in the Levine Lounge (Himmelfarb 305A), adjacent to the Bloedorn Technology Center on Himmelfarb’s third floor. BodyViz materials are available for checkout at the circulation desk.

Primal Pictures Real Time Functional Anatomy

Have you ever wondered what your muscles are doing when you run, kick, or climb? Primal Pictures Real Time Functional Anatomy is a powerful 3D tool that lets you visualize and manipulate core functional movements in real-time, with 360-degree control to explore the human body at every angle! This resource includes detailed 3D graphic renderings of human anatomy. Gallery views feature musculoskeletal systems and layered neurovascular supply, functional animations with detailed descriptions of kinesiology, and goniometry animations with detailed descriptions of the goniometry technique. 

Screenshot of Primal Pictures software with skeleton and shoulder muscle highlights.

Primal Pictures also includes more than 80 preset and editable views that align to movements to help visualize whole-body systems and explore musculature and neurovasculature. You can interact with figures by dissecting, hiding, and ghosting structures. You can use the edit tools to label, draw, and pin 3D models.

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For around a decade, 3D printing has been leading to significant medical advancements – both in unparalleled customization of prosthetics or orthopedic implants and in mass producing medical implements, which frees up finances for research. This may feel remote, but users are already prototyping models and tools in Himmelfarb, using the free service available to GW health sciences staff, faculty, and students. 

With 3D printing, the use cases are myriad, but we prepared this guide to showcase some possibilities of the technology, especially with our new Bambu printer, which can print multi-color jobs! 

Check out our original 3D Printing Use Cases post for model ideas like a stethoscope holder, surgery practice materials, and more. Websites like Thingiverse are the best free aggregator of model files, but you can also find model files at NIH. But for now, here are five medical use cases created here at Himmelfarb. 

Molds: Negative Space: 

With 3D printing, useful ideas are not limited to shape, they can also utilize negative space – like with this suture-mold. Filled with silicone, you can create your own suture practice board. When thinking of 3D printing use cases, therefore, there’s power in positive – and negative – spatial thinking.

A rendering of a suture board in a 3D printing slicer.

Trachea: A Natural (and Plastic) Flex: 

Beyond our standard plastics (ABS and PLA), Himmelfarb has unique options like Z-Flex: a material that prints almost like rubber and can bend and return to its original shape. 

This is perfect for anatomical models like the trachea, whose cartilage rings naturally flex with inhalation. 

A rendering of a trachea model in a 3D printing slicer.

Custom Tags: Scientific Equipment Easily Made: 

More durable than paper tags – and still quickly made and requiring almost no filament – models like this tag demonstrate how 3D printing can reproduce common scientific accoutrements economically. 

These can also be customized with text such as 5cm, 10cm, etc. And with our Bambu printer, the text can be a different color!  

A rendering of a 1cm tag in a 3D printing slicer.

Clinical Education Tools: Brachial Plexus Model

Unlike John Hunter, the father of modern surgery, 21st century physicians don’t have to resort to body snatching if they want to study the human body. They don’t have to use expensive plastic models either, they can 3D print even complex bone/nerve structures – like this 16 piece set meant to display the brachial nerves in their bodily environment. [Note: unlike the example picture, the nerves can be in a different color!].

A rendering of a rhomboid bone model in a 3D printing slicer.
A completed 3D print of the spine, shoulders, chest, and brachial nerve system.

Badge Holder: Daily Swag:

But of course, 3D printing far exceeds the purely medical. Model sharing sites like the aforementioned Thingiverse host almost anything you can imagine (or more importantly, what many creative people can imagine). For GW life though, you consider unique badge holder in whatever color we have in stock. 

A rendering of a badge holder in a 3D printing slicer.

We hope these examples give you ideas about how to make use of Himmelfarb’s 3D printing service, and if you like, you can submit a job using the Google Form! 

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Sign with text that says "Welcome Back!" Star, smiley face, and heart icons.
Photo by Nick Fewings on Unsplash

We hope you had a restful and relaxing Winter Break! We’ve enjoyed having so many of you in the library again during the first week of Spring Semester classes! It’s always fun to feel the buzz of excitement in the library at the start of a new semester! 

We’d like to take a minute to remind you that Himmelfarb Library is here to support you as you pursue your goals this term, so let’s review some ways Himmelfarb can help you make the most of the Spring Semester.

Library Hours 

Himmelfarb’s regular operating hours are:

Himmelfarb LibraryReference ServicesConsultation
Monday - Friday6:00 am - Midnight8:00 am - 8:00 pm8:30 am - 5:00 pm
Saturday8:00 am - MidnightNot staffedNot staffed
Sunday8:00 am - Midnight4:00 pm - 8:00 pmNot staffed

Visit our Hours page to view any exceptions to our normal hours, such as holiday closures. 

Study Zones

Himmelfarb is also a great place to study with numerous options to meet your needs and preferences. 

  • Social Zone - 1st Floor: Our first floor is not quiet and is the perfect place to study with your friends, hang out, and be social, or take a study break with a game of chess, our current puzzle, coloring books, board games, or hula hoops! 
  • Silent Zone - 2nd Floor: Our second floor is a silent floor reserved for graduate and advanced degree students. Silence is golden on this floor - it’s the perfect place to study if you need pristine silence to focus while you study. Don’t let the 4-person tables tempt you to be social - even whispering can disturb your fellow silence seekers. 
  • Quiet Zone - 3rd Floor: Our third floor is a quiet study area, where whispering is acceptable, but please be respectful to others and keep things quiet.
  • Group Study Rooms: Our study rooms are located on the second and third floors and are great for studying with friends! Reserve your study room in advance to secure a room. These rooms aren’t noise-proof, so please keep conversations quiet so you don’t disturb others in the Silent and Quiet Zones!

Our Collections

Himmelfarb has extensive collections that include more than 125 databases, 6,700 e-books, and 6,500 journals, available 24/7 from on and off campus! Our print book collection, located in the basement-level stacks, is available for checkout. Most books can be borrowed for three weeks, with two renewals available if you need an item longer. To renew your items, stop by the first-floor service desk, call us (202-994-2962), or log in to your library account and renew online.

If you can’t find what you need in our collection, we can get it through our Docs2Go (ILL) or Consortium Loan Service (CLS) programs. Learn which option is best for you on our Borrowing From Other Libraries page.

Technology Resources

While we pride ourselves on our books and collections, Himmelfarb offers a lot of things you might not expect from a library. Take some time this semester to explore some of the more unique things Himmelfarb has to offer!

  • Virtual Reality Headsets: Check out the awesome virtual anatomy and healthy living apps! 
  • 3D Printing: We proudly offer free 3D printing!
  • BodyViz: This interactive anatomy visualization tool is a fantastic way to explore and learn anatomy in a fun and exciting way!
  • Statistical Software: Some of our third-floor computers come equipped with statistical software including SPSS, Stata, SAS, NVivo, MATLAB, and Atlas.ti.
  • Tech Equipment: Our digital camcorders, digital voice recorders, and ring lights can be reserved in advance for your media-related projects.
  • Medical Gear: We have suture kits, an ultrasound machine, a blood pressure monitor, an ECG monitor, an iPhone otoscope, and a fitness tracker available for checkout!
  • Tech & Support: We have chargers for iPhones and MacBooks, USB-C to HDMI OUT and USB-C to USB-A IN adapters, HDMI cables, headphones, and dry-erase markers available for checkout. We also have free earplugs at the first-floor service desk!

Reference and Research Support

Himmelfarb is more than just a great space to study and fantastic resources! Our librarians and staff can help you find the resources you need for your studies and research. Whether you’re looking for the right book or journal article for an assignment, need help with a literature search or a systematic review, or want to learn how to organize your sources with RefWorks or Covidence, our reference librarians and staff can help! 

Stop by the first-floor service desk to get help from our knowledgeable and friendly reference librarians and staff in person, or use our Ask a Librarian service to chat virtually. Our Ask a Librarian service is staffed by real Himmelfarb librarians and staff, so you can be sure you’re getting the help you need! You can also email us a question, or schedule a consultation with a reference librarian at himmelfarb@gwu.edu.

Connect with Us!

Connect with us on Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, and YouTube for the latest Himmelfarb news and updates! Subscribe to our blog to make sure you never miss a post!

We’re excited to help you do your best this semester! Here’s to a successful Spring Semester!

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For around a decade, 3D printing has been leading to significant medical advancements – custom prosthetics, for example, or orthopedic implants. However, while exciting, these are not the most immediately useful for a health sciences student. As SMHS, GWSPH, or Nursing students, if you’d like to get the most out of the free 3D printing service at Himmelfarb, consider the following five use cases! 

Stethoscope Holder: 

Durable, quickly-printed, and clips to a belt! And like with any print request, you can state your color preference on the Google Form. 

A rendering of a stethoscope clip in a 3D printing slicing software.

Molecules:

3D Printing benefits tactile and visual learners, especially with objects that must be represented abstractly, like atoms and molecules. Unlike a diagram on a page, molecules like this dopamine model can be rotated and moved, which can aid memory of chemical interactions. 

A rendering of a dopamine model in a 3D printing slicing software.
[Dopamine model guaranteed; dopamine hit from receiving not guaranteed]

Bones of the Hand: Anatomy Models to Study

When it comes to the complexity of the human body, structures with many similar parts – like the bones of the hand – benefit from modeling. They can be arranged, labeled, and assembled [but unfortunately not high-fived, unless you have amazing plastic glue]. 

A rendering of the bones in the human hand in a 3D printing slicing software.

Temporal Bone: Anatomy Models to Test: 

Certainly within GW, 3D models can (and have) been used to practice surgery. Kidney models can be used to practice transplants, and (depicted below) prints of the temporal bone can be used for a trial mastoidectomy.

A rendering of the temporal bones in a 3D printing slicing software.

The Human Heart: Study, Decoration, or Both

A 3D-printed classic, few things say “medical world” like the human heart. [Also appropriate for Edgar Allen Poe fans].

A rendering of a human heart in a 3D printing slicing software.

Himmelfarb has more than books and articles! This article will highlight some of the exciting options available to you as SMHS, GWSPH, or GW Nursing students.
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Himmelfarb has more than books and articles! This article will highlight some of the exciting options available to you as SMHS, GWSPH, or GW Nursing students.

3D Printing: 

If you’ve stopped by the circulation desk, you may have noticed a slight scenery change: Himmelfarb has a new Bambu Lab 3-D printer! The Bambu Lab X-1 Carbon prints significantly faster than our older printers, greatly increasing our turnaround time and ability to process more jobs. Plus, it can print in multi-colors, leading to festive and interesting options. 

You can print as many curricular prints as the queue allows and one non-curricular print a month (full policy here). 

If you’re wondering where to find 3-D printer models, check out this article!

The applications for med students are vast: from stethoscope holders to molecular diagrams to model organs. 

Or fun friends, like this poseable turtle. 

A 3D printed turtle stands angled towards the camera.

VR:

Himmelfarb has two Oculus Quest VR headsets for checkout. 

A VR headset is displayed behind a glass case.

[Oculus headset on display at the Himmelfarb library - available for 4hr checkouts]

These are great for taking a study break with guided meditations or nature walks (although make sure you have the appropriate space) or, if you want to get serious with studies, you can take advantage of the preloaded Medicalholodeck Medical VR platform (which includes Anatomy Master XR, Medical Imaging XR, and Dissection Master XR). Somewhere between a textbook and a cadaver lab, Medicalholodeck allows you to inspect high-resolution dissections layer-by-layer alongside your research.

Check out the video below for a brief demonstration:

BodyViz

Like Medicalholodeck, BodyViz is an interactive anatomy visualization tool that lets users view, study, and manipulate 3D anatomical structures. Although there's a bit of a learning curve, once you get a handle on it, the BodyViz slicing software allows you to digitally dissect models with great precision, allowing for intensive inspection.

Unlike the VR headsets - which can be used anywhere you find the space - BodyViz is best used in the Levine lounge (Himmelfarb 305A), adjacent to the Bloedorn Technology Center. All of these materials are available at our circulation desk. To learn more, explore our BodyViz Guide.

We hope these help take your studies to the next level.

3D Printing is incredibly easy with your Himmelfarb library team. Read on to learn how.
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If you’re a new student, or if our article about Himmelfarb’s technology options caught your eye, you may have heard that SMHS, GWSPH, and GW Nursing faculty, staff, and students can 3D print for free. 

But if you’ve never submitted a 3D printing request before, it might seem a little daunting. Fortunately – it’s super easy!

All you need to do is find the STL file you want to print (think of the STL as the digital blueprint for the print job), submit the file (or the URL of where to find it) using our Submission Form, and then let Himmelfarb staff take over. We’ll format the file and print it out for you. 

But where do I find an STL file? 

Fortunately, there are a number of high quality free 3D printing libraries available: NIH 3D Print Exchange, Thingiverse, or the Zortrax Library. I recommend starting with Thingiverse (Thingiverse is your friend). You can find almost anything you want just by querying their database and downloading the file. 

3D printing has a myriad of applications for the medical field. For medical students, it allows the visualization of the (almost invisible) by modeling molecules, or it can create bone models such as flexible spines or 3D printed skulls. 
For more information on the process of printing through Himmelfarb, check out our 3D Printing Research Guide. We hope to collaborate with you soon!

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Picture of multiple 3D printed items.

Himmelfarb Library has excellent technology tools to help enhance your learning and research! As the Fall 2023 semester begins, set aside some time to explore our 3D printing program and try out our BodyViz and virtual reality software.

3D Printing

Thanks to a generous grant from the GW Hospital Women’s Board, Himmelfarb is able to offer free 3D printing to faculty, staff, and students of the School of Medicine and Health Sciences, Nursing, the School of Public Health, Medical Faculty Associates, and the GW Hospital. Himmelfarb has two 3D printers (a Zortrax M200 and M200+) and is currently accepting print requests! 

While there are no limits to the number of 3D printing requests you can submit, priority will be given to requests that support teaching, learning, and research. Recreational requests will be placed at the end of the queue and may be limited to one per month per user when we are experiencing a high demand for 3D printing. Learn more about how 3D printing works, where to find 3D models, and how to submit a 3D print job on our 3D Printing at Himmelfarb Guide!

Quest Virtual Reality Headsets

Thanks to a generous grant from the Bloedorn Foundation, Himmelfarb has two Quest virtual reality (VR) headsets available for checkout. Each headset is preloaded with the Medicalholodeck Medical VR platform. This platform includes Anatomy Master XR, Medical Imaging XR, and Dissection Master XR. Anatomy Master XR features anatomy models similar to those found in textbooks but in a three-dimensional interactive format. Medical Imaging XR is a system for rendering and manipulating objects based on medical imaging such as MRI and CT scans. 

Dissection Master XR showcases high-resolution images of human dissections created specifically for learning and teaching anatomy layer by layer. Check out the video below for a brief demonstration of Dissection Master XR:

VR headsets are available to check out for 4-hour loan periods from the Himmelarb Circulation Desk and can be used in Himmelfarb Library and Ross Hall. Check out our VR Headsets Guide to learn more about this amazing technology. If you’d like a one-on-one tutorial to learn how to use the headsets, email himmelfarb@gwu.edu to make an appointment. 

BodyViz

BodyViz is an interactive anatomy visualization tool that lets users view, study, and manipulate 3D anatomical structures. 3D models allow users to zoom in and rotate models to view different angles. You can also adjust brightness, contrast, and color based on tissue density, and highlight or filter by bone, muscle, organ, or vasculature. The clipping mode allows you to slice into the models to digitally dissect the models in order to isolate areas of interest or to expose internal structures.

The BodyViz suite is on Himmelfarb’s third floor in Himmelfarb 305A, adjacent to the Bloedorn Technology Center. Be sure to reserve the BodyViz suite (available for one to four-hour sessions) prior to using BodyViz! Stop by the Circulation Desk to check out the wireless keyboard, game controller, and remote control equipment before heading up to the third floor. To learn more, explore our BodyViz Guide.

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Using 3D printed models is becoming increasingly common for both surgical procedures planning and surgical training. Three dimensional models can help surgeons develop surgical plans by providing better visualization and understanding of the anatomical structures than CT or other imaging alone. In training, 3D printed surgical simulators can have advantages over other methods, such as cadavers, animal models, or virtual reality training.

Image of surgical team with 3D printed skull
Image by Formlabs, Inc on Flickr https://www.flickr.com/photos/161389331@N04/46066892645

To create a 3D model for surgical planning, imaging studies are converted to a file type that can be rendered as a 3D object. The file is edited to exclude unwanted structures and printed. A recent meta-analysis (Yammine, 2022) of 13 randomized controlled trials found that operative duration, intraoperative blood loss and fluoroscopy use were improved for those that used 3D models for surgical planning of fracture management and the rates of excellent/good overall results and anatomic fracture reduction were significantly higher.  

A randomized controlled trial published in BMC Musculoskeletal Disorders (Zhang, 2022)  compared the outcomes of clavicular fracture repair by experienced and inexperienced surgeons using 3D printing or just CT scans. The authors were particularly interested in how the findings could be applied in low and middle income country settings where surgeons may have limited skills and experience. 3D printing has become more accessible due to lower costs of printers and media. In this study, the average cost of the clavicle model was just $.84. The research team considered operation time, blood loss, length of incision, and intraoperative fluoroscopy use to measure success.  Findings showed little difference in the performance of experienced surgeons, but inexperienced surgeons performed better with 3D models with reduced incision length and intraoperative exposure.

“Since 3D printing models could provide a visual, comprehensive vision of fracture, the position of plate implantation, screw direction, and screw length can be determined in the simulation operation before operation…3D printing could supplement routine CT scans, allowing surgeons to understand patients' fractures more intuitively and achieve better surgical results.” 

(Zhang, 2022)

Though availability and cost of 3D printing technologies and the software that enables it are improving they can still present a barrier. Issues with the quality of the 3D objects produced can occur due to image resolution. Waiting for the 3D model to be rendered and printed can also cause delays in a procedure. A meta-analysis (Wang, 2021) that assessed 3D printing applications in open reduction and internal fixation of pelvic fractures found a delay of between 3 to 7 hours to print the object. The computer-aided design phase also required significant time and involvement from the surgeons.

Application of 3D printing in surgical instructional settings offers advantages over other models as they can be customized to simulate the exact procedure or anatomy required, and they provide the haptic experience so far lacking in VR simulation. VR simulation does include the challenge of learning how to use the equipment and navigate the interface. The University of Michigan has produced high fidelity 3D printed simulators for surgical instruction of airway reconstruction, cleft palates, cleft lips, ear reconstruction and facial flaps. Tissue components can have varying ranges of stiffness by combining types of silicones and additives. 

These training applications could be a solution should there be another round of restrictions on nonessential surgery procedures such as were seen during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. At that time, the number of cases available for the education of surgery residents decreased dramatically. High fidelity 3D simulation could help.

“With high fidelity surgical simulators that can be rapidly 3D printed and a virtual curriculum, these residents could learn valuable surgical skills in remote settings.”

(Michaels, 2021)

For an overview of 3D printing in surgery, see:

Meyer-Szary J, Luis MS, Mikulski S, Patel A, Schulz F, Tretiakow D, Fercho J, Jaguszewska K, Frankiewicz M, Pawłowska E, Targoński R, Szarpak Ł, Dądela K, Sabiniewicz R, Kwiatkowska J. The Role of 3D Printing in Planning Complex Medical Procedures and Training of Medical Professionals—Cross-Sectional Multispecialty Review. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. 2022; 19(6):3331. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19063331

Tsoulfas G, Bangeas PI, Suri JS. 3D Printing : Application in Medical Surgery. (Tsoulfas G, Bangeas PI, Suri JS, eds.). Elsevier; 2020.

References

Yammine K, Karbala J, Maalouf A, Daher J, Assi C. Clinical outcomes of the use of 3D printing models in fracture management: a meta-analysis of randomized studies. Eur J Trauma Emerg Surg. 2022 Oct;48(5):3479-3491. doi: 10.1007/s00068-021-01758-1. Epub 2021 Aug 12. PMID: 34383092.

Zhang M, Guo J, Li H, Ye J, Chen J, Liu J, Xiao M. Comparing the effectiveness of 3D printing technology in the treatment of clavicular fracture between surgeons with different experiences. BMC Musculoskelet Disord. 2022 Nov 22;23(1):1003. doi: 10.1186/s12891-022-05972-9. PMID: 36419043; PMCID: PMC9682691.

Wang J, Wang X, Wang B, Xie L, Zheng W, Chen H, Cai L. Comparison of the feasibility of 3D printing technology in the treatment of pelvic fractures: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials and prospective comparative studies. Eur J Trauma Emerg Surg. 2021 Dec;47(6):1699-1712. doi: 10.1007/s00068-020-01532-9. Epub 2020 Nov 1. PMID: 33130976.

Michaels, R., Witsberger, C. A., Powell, A. R., Koka, K., Cohen, K., Nourmohammadi, Z. (2021). 3D printing in surgical simulation: emphasized importance in the COVID-19 pandemic era. Journal of 3D printing in medicine, 2021;5(1): 5-9. doi:10.2217/3dp-2021-0009

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