To offer patients more options for a better quality of life, 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.

“The days of pulling an implant off the shelf and hoping it fits are over,” said Richard Menger, M.D., MPA, neurosurgeon and chief of complex spine surgery at USA Health. “Now we are able to simulate our surgery plan, measure the patient’s alignment, and pre-operatively design the implants for each patient.”

The idea is developing a completely patient-specific construct, customized implants that reconstruct the spine bones and patient-specific rods that create alignment of the spine, Menger said, noting: “We can create the exact rod or implant that fits in their vertebrae like a puzzle piece, giving our patients long-term relief and decreasing the need for repeat surgeries.”

A spinal deformity is an abnormal alignment or curve in the spine’s vertebral column, and can be caused by trauma, aging, birth defects or disease. Spinal deformities can be present in up to 68% of elderly populations, according to the Journal of Spine Surgery, and in up to 4% of children. The most common deformities tend to be kyphosis (bending forward) or scoliosis (bending sideways).

USA Health partners with multiple leading medical technology companies to allow patients to receive the most leading-edge technology available. 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-degree visualization of the implant into the patient’s spine digitally; then the surgeon will approve the personalized plan and order the custom-made 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, Menger said, to ensure proper alignment after correction of the spinal deformity. The 3D-printed procedure is offered at no additional cost to the patient.

For more complex spinal surgeries, a 3D model of the patient’s spine can be printed and used as a reference during surgery. “We strive to be on the leading edge of safe surgery, bringing the best possible technology to our patients,” Menger said.