Pet Hospital Launches 3D Printing Lab for Surgeries

To offer better outcomes for pets' recovery from medical procedures, VCA Animal Hospitals, a provider of care solutions for pets, has opened its 3D Printing Lab dedicated to orthopedic surgeries for pets at VCA Northwest Veterinary Specialists in Clackamas, OR. This facility will be equipped to offer customized solutions for better pet recovery and improved quality of life.

Through 3D printing technology, VCA surgeons can better understand an individual dog's anatomy and streamline the planning of complex surgeries.

The new 3D Printing Lab at VCA Northwest Veterinary Specialists uses the latest in 3D printing technology to create precise, custom-fit implants and surgical guides tailored to each pet's anatomy. This technology allows for:

• Personalized Treatment Plans: Custom implants designed specifically for each pet, ensuring fit and optimal functionality
• Enhanced Precision: Surgical guides that improve the accuracy of procedures, reducing risk of complications and speeding up recovery times
• Faster Recovery: Tailored solutions that promote quicker healing and better long-term outcomes for pets

VCA's care teams will be able to conduct simulation surgeries before the procedure and produce customized tools and instruments on-site personalized to each pet's specific needs.

“We are using cutting-edge technologies that have proven effectiveness in human and veterinary medicine to enhance our surgical practice. With 3D printing, we can prepare more thoroughly for surgeries, increase our surgical precision, and improve outcomes while minimizing unnecessary risks,” says Jose Carvajal DVM, MS, DACVS-SA, surgery specialist, VCA Northwest Veterinary Specialists. “This enables us to stay on the leading edge in our field, while creating the new standard of care for our pets and their owners.”

Many surgical cases that benefit from these techniques were previously too complicated to perform or had suboptimal outcomes when done without 3D printing, Dr. Carvajal notes. “There are complex cases in which you need to understand the 3D anatomy of a bone, which you cannot get with x-rays. To achieve this, we perform a CT scan, create 3D virtual models, and then print those models that are a perfect copy of the pet's anatomy. Once printed, we not only use these models during actual surgery, but also to educate our students, interns, members of the care team, and of course the pet owner. However, being able to give the model to the pet owner to take home post-surgery brings an unexpected joy to the experience.”

Sources: Press materials received from the company and additional information gleaned from the company’s website.