USA Health Offering Customized Spine Surgery Implants

USA Health is now using customized 3D-printed implants and patient-specific rods for complex spine surgery. Patient-specific 3D interbody implants are currently only available at USA Health in the Mobile area. USA Health’s neurosurgery department uses digital technologies to create spinal fusion devices and optimize surgical plans for each patient based on their scans. Those scans, coupled with the surgeon’s operative goals, are used to generate a design for the necessary rod or implant. Confirming spinal placement allows a 360° visualization of the implant into the patient’s spine digitally; then, the surgeon will approve the personalized plan and order the fixture. The element is 3D printed and placed in the patient’s spine during surgery. The different aspects of the surgery can also be modeled and predicted, said Dr. Richard Menger, neurosurgeon and chief of complex spine surgery at USA Health, to ensure proper alignment after correction of the spinal deformity. The 3D-printed procedure is offered at no additional cost to the patient.