Technology columnist Nick Lee gets to grips with 3D printing and anatomical models for the surgeon

 3D anatomical models are not a new concept. In my specialty, medical models have been used for many years in the planning of facial surgery. I know other surgeons in plastics, orthopaedics and neurosurgery who are using 3D printed models or implants.

Medical models can be used to carry out virtual surgery prior to the definitive procedure and used as a template in the construction of implants, stents and pre-bending plates.

They can also be used as a prop in explaining an operation to a patient, allowing the patients to understand their surgery and therefore make better-informed decisions.

They are often used in the communication and decision making process between surgeons and as an aid in medical education.

Most medical models are made by additive manufacturing, “a process of joining materials to make objects from 3D model data, usually layer upon layer, as opposed to substractive manufacturing methodologies”. The process works by taking a 3D computer file and generating cross-sectional slices. Each slice is then printed one on top of each other to create a 3D object.

As a Londoner away from home at the time of 2012 Olympics, Nick Lee is looking at different applications for watching the Olympics while on the move

Elgato now make a TV tuner that will plug into an iPad 2, turning your mobile device into a portable television (http://tiny.cc/EyeTV), but I wanted to restrict myself to solutions which would allow you to watch the Men’s 100m Olympics final on 5 August 2012, without sitting in the Olympic Stadium or watching a regular television signal.

The first thing to say is that whatever system you use you will still need to be covered with a TV licence.

As all of my solutions use the Internet to stream the signal to your phone or computer, you will also need a fast 3G, 4G or Wi-Fi connection. This will use up your data plan and might be contraindicated while at work. 

Nick Lee looks at how technology is coming to the aid of anatomy teaching 

There are over 2000 iPad medical applications on the Apple App Store. The following are four groups within the UK pushing the boundaries of anatomy teaching with the aid of technology. Three out of the four groups have created apps for mobile devices running Apple’s iOS mobile operating system. The fourth, with a large back catalogue in medical software, is looking at applications for tablet devices in the future.

Nicholas Lee picks up the Livescribe Smartpen

I have wanted to try a Livescribe Smartpen and recently got to test their new Echo Smartpen, which I have now been using for the last month. I was wondering if it would be of particular use to a surgeon and wanted to explore the possibility of making an electronic copy of my operation notes.