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3D Printed Orthopaedic External Fixation Devices: A Systematic Review

BACKGROUND: External fixators are complex, expensive orthopaedic devices used to stabilize high-energy and complex fractures of the extremities. Although the technology has advanced dramatically over the last several decades, the mechanical goals for fracture stabilization of these devices have rema...

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Autores principales: O’Connor, Hunter A., Adams, Luke W., MacFadden, Lisa N., Skelley, Nathan Wm.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Springer International Publishing 2023
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10246364/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37284965
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s41205-023-00180-0
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author O’Connor, Hunter A.
Adams, Luke W.
MacFadden, Lisa N.
Skelley, Nathan Wm.
author_facet O’Connor, Hunter A.
Adams, Luke W.
MacFadden, Lisa N.
Skelley, Nathan Wm.
author_sort O’Connor, Hunter A.
collection PubMed
description BACKGROUND: External fixators are complex, expensive orthopaedic devices used to stabilize high-energy and complex fractures of the extremities. Although the technology has advanced dramatically over the last several decades, the mechanical goals for fracture stabilization of these devices have remained unchanged. Three-dimensional (3D) printing technology has the potential to advance the practice and access to external fixation devices in orthopaedics. This publication aims to systematically review and synthesize the current literature on 3D printed external fixation devices for managing orthopaedic trauma fractures. METHODS: The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA) protocols were followed for this manuscript with minor exceptions. PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Review, Google Scholar, and Scopus online databases were systematically searched. Two independent reviewers screened the search results based on predetermined inclusion and exclusion criteria related to 3D printing and external fixation of fractures. RESULTS: Nine studies met the inclusion criteria. These included one mechanical testing study, two computational simulation studies, three feasibility studies, and three clinical case studies. Fixator designs and materials varied significantly between authors. Mechanical testing revealed similar strength to traditional metal external fixators. Across all clinical studies, five patients underwent definitive treatment with 3D printed external fixators. They all had satisfactory reduction and healing with no reported complications. CONCLUSIONS: The current literature on this topic is heterogeneous, with highly variable external fixator designs and testing techniques. A small and limited number of studies in the scientific literature have analyzed the use of 3D printing in this area of orthopaedic surgery. 3D printed external fixation design advancements have yielded promising results in several small clinical case studies. However, additional studies on a larger scale with standardized testing and reporting techniques are needed.
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spelling pubmed-102463642023-06-08 3D Printed Orthopaedic External Fixation Devices: A Systematic Review O’Connor, Hunter A. Adams, Luke W. MacFadden, Lisa N. Skelley, Nathan Wm. 3D Print Med Research BACKGROUND: External fixators are complex, expensive orthopaedic devices used to stabilize high-energy and complex fractures of the extremities. Although the technology has advanced dramatically over the last several decades, the mechanical goals for fracture stabilization of these devices have remained unchanged. Three-dimensional (3D) printing technology has the potential to advance the practice and access to external fixation devices in orthopaedics. This publication aims to systematically review and synthesize the current literature on 3D printed external fixation devices for managing orthopaedic trauma fractures. METHODS: The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA) protocols were followed for this manuscript with minor exceptions. PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Review, Google Scholar, and Scopus online databases were systematically searched. Two independent reviewers screened the search results based on predetermined inclusion and exclusion criteria related to 3D printing and external fixation of fractures. RESULTS: Nine studies met the inclusion criteria. These included one mechanical testing study, two computational simulation studies, three feasibility studies, and three clinical case studies. Fixator designs and materials varied significantly between authors. Mechanical testing revealed similar strength to traditional metal external fixators. Across all clinical studies, five patients underwent definitive treatment with 3D printed external fixators. They all had satisfactory reduction and healing with no reported complications. CONCLUSIONS: The current literature on this topic is heterogeneous, with highly variable external fixator designs and testing techniques. A small and limited number of studies in the scientific literature have analyzed the use of 3D printing in this area of orthopaedic surgery. 3D printed external fixation design advancements have yielded promising results in several small clinical case studies. However, additional studies on a larger scale with standardized testing and reporting techniques are needed. Springer International Publishing 2023-06-07 /pmc/articles/PMC10246364/ /pubmed/37284965 http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s41205-023-00180-0 Text en © The Author(s) 2023 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) . The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/ (https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) ) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated in a credit line to the data.
spellingShingle Research
O’Connor, Hunter A.
Adams, Luke W.
MacFadden, Lisa N.
Skelley, Nathan Wm.
3D Printed Orthopaedic External Fixation Devices: A Systematic Review
title 3D Printed Orthopaedic External Fixation Devices: A Systematic Review
title_full 3D Printed Orthopaedic External Fixation Devices: A Systematic Review
title_fullStr 3D Printed Orthopaedic External Fixation Devices: A Systematic Review
title_full_unstemmed 3D Printed Orthopaedic External Fixation Devices: A Systematic Review
title_short 3D Printed Orthopaedic External Fixation Devices: A Systematic Review
title_sort 3d printed orthopaedic external fixation devices: a systematic review
topic Research
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10246364/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37284965
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s41205-023-00180-0
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