“Chest wall reconstruction can be challenging, fraught with difficulties. … Meticulous surgical planning is essential for the achievement of optimal outcomes,” corresponding author Dr. Brian Kim and colleagues wrote.

“The advent of accessible, hospital-based 3D modeling can facilitate preoperative understanding of the underlying anatomy and optimize surgical planning.”

The group demonstrated the benefits of integrating 3D printing into preoperative planning for surgical stabilization of rib fracture in a 55-year-old man. The patient had undergone surgery for a stab wound in his left chest wall two months prior to presenting to the current hospital with nonunion, a serious complication of failed fracture repair ( Trauma Case Rep , August 2019, Vol. 22, 100218).

Due to the complexity of the case and concerns over future nonunion, the researchers decided to plan the repair of the patient’s chest wall using a 3D-printed model. To make the model, they acquired chest CT scans […]

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