Today opens a  technological laboratory entirely dedicated to the design and 3D printing of prostheses and customized prototypes, realized thanks to the support of the Rizzoli Foundation and the generosity of a group of twenty donors led by founding member Giovanni Domenichini. This is the novelty presented today at the IRCCS Rizzoli Orthopaedic Institute, a research hospital recognized by the Ministry of Health as an IRCCS since 1981.

It is a new space in which Rizzoli’s engineers will be able to work with fellow surgeons in the design for 3D printing of prostheses and medical devices for the planning of tailored interventions, for corrective and reconstructive surgery.

The benefits for patients are countless: reduced surgical times, which implies a lower exposure to anesthesia and a faster post-operative recovery, risk reduction and solutions created ad hoc for those highly complex cases that otherwise would not find adequate solutions in standard prostheses.

From the data of the individual patient, obtained thanks to diagnostic tests such as CT and MRI, engineers design the prosthesis to measure through sophisticated calculation models in order to define the most appropriate shape and the perfect anatomical positioning, also being able to simulate the operation in motion.

3D printed prostheses of the pelvis, vertebra, ankle, elbow, knee, sternum, hip have been experimented in the last ten years at Rizzoli, often first released in the world, as well as the so-called cutting guides, essential for surgeons to perform surgery according to custom planning.

The laboratory is dedicated exclusively to these activities. Rizzoli already has a consolidated this experience, will also allow researchers to group the different cases, creating a valuable source of data that can also be shared with other entities outside the Institute in order to make care and custom-made interventions more widespread and accessible.
 

“"For the Institute, Being able to rely on an internal design center means not only enhancing the skills of our researchers and having the latest technologies available but also being able to offer our patients increasingly customized and effective solutions - explains the General Director of Rizzoli  Anselmo Campagna. Rizzoli, due to its characteristics as a national and international orthopedic reference Centre, welcomes patients who, due to the complexity of their condition, require tailor-made interventions. In the orthopedic field, the custom made design of implantable and orthotic devices is strategic for these patients, in fact it greatly improves clinical results, reduces rehabilitation time, surgical time, and for the health system limits the total costs. Our goal is that each of them can have a personalized treatment that allows an optimal recovery of motor skills. For this project the most sincere gratitude to the Foundation”.

“For the Rizzoli Foundation, it is a great satisfaction to see a project of this magnitude realized in such a short time. Here we can see concretely the synergy between science, medicine and entrepreneurship of the territory and the results of scientific research on patients - commenta la presidente della Fondazione Federica Guidi. - My gratitude goes to the founding member Giovanni Domenichini, that by promoting funding for the Rizzoli Bespoke 3DLab has demonstrated, once again, how the Foundation is able to concretize valuable ideas for the benefit of all, to involve the entrepreneurial realities of the Emilian territory-and to do all this for an international excellence like Rizzoli. We continue to work intensively as a Foundation in support of the Rizzoli Orthopaedic Institute in continuous dialogue with the clinical and research components to understand which are the priority projects on which we can offer our contribution.”

The scientific director of Rizzoli Milena Fini and the director of the Analysis Laboratory of the movement  Alberto Leardini have carried out the path for the creation of the new 3DLab, which is located in the space of the ancient photographic laboratory of the Institute, that was born together with Rizzoli in 1896 with the cutting-edge technology at the time.

The place has been completely renovated and reorganized, safeguarding some rediscovered frescoes, in order to accommodate the workstations and innovative technologies that Rizzoli engineers will have at their disposal: High-performance computers and latest-generation 3D printers can use many different materials.

The Laboratory involves many professionals specialized in biomedical image analysis, anatomical modeling, device design and printing of cutting guides and prototypes: all the necessary steps for the development of the final customized device.

The laboratory also dedicates some spaces for the training of professionals, the case archive and historical-educational material and will provide digital services for the branch offices of the Institute, the Department Rizzoli-Sicily of Bagheria (PA), the Orthopaedics of Bentivoglio (BO) and the Polo Orthopedic and Rehabilitation Rizzoli-Argenta (FE).

Alongside this latest generation technology, history coexists: in the entrance space to the Laboratory is set up an exhibition space that tells, through tools and images, as from the last years of the 800 to today the Rizzoli has worked with the technological innovation becoming one of the best orthopedic institutes in the world.

This story begins in 1896 and follows developments in scientific photography and medical technologies. Objects and materials preserved in the archives of the Institute with a double value: scientific and historical. These documents tell an era that today seems far away if you look at the technological advances that medicine and orthopedics have made in the last century.

The exhibition is developed through thousands of glass photographic plates, film cameras, enlargers, image duplicators, cameras and ancient tools used by the Institute’s photographers to support doctors in the diagnosis and care of patients by carefully documenting the different stages of treatment and the results of treatments.

There is also a preview of the Museum of Pathological Anatomy of Rizzoli, curated by the orthopedic surgeon Alfredo Cioni and the pathologist Patrizia Bacchini. It is a rare preparations in formalin and dry dating from the first half of the last century.

This heritage of historical and scientific documentation unique in the world introduces the most modern technologies and confirms the cross attitude to innovation that has always characterized Rizzoli.

The Donors:

Giovanni Domenichini
Massimo Galassini
Lamberto Tacoli
Brunello Cucinelli
Vincenzo Cremonini
Augusto Cremonini
Fabio Gallia
Luca Sghedoni
Luca Dini
Gianluca Pavanello
Claudio Lucchese
Nicola Ancarani
Gianmaria Cesari
Giampiero Bergami
Elisabetta Franchi
Elena Tradii
Alessandro Menozzi
Giuseppe Colaiacovo
Luigi Marchesini
Marco Minoccheri