3D Systems acquired Medical Modeling to enter the market of reconstructive surgery
3D Systems announced that it acquired Medical Modeling Inc., a leading provider of personalized surgical treatments and patient specific medical devices, including virtual surgical planning and clinical transfer tools.
Based in Golden, Colorado, Medical Modeling delivers Virtual Surgical Planning (VSP), a service-based approach to personalized surgery that combines expertise in medical imaging, surgical simulation and additive manufacturing. VSP combines a detailed virtual surgical plan with custom-engineered instrumentation to ensure surgical success, especially in today's most challenging head and neck surgical procedures.
Its patented and clinically tested technology aid surgeries ranging from trauma reconstruction of the facial skeleton to guidance of fibula-free grafts to more routine orthognathic surgeries.
In a recent case, Medical Modeling's VSP was used by Dr. Oren Tepper, at the Montefiore Medical Center to perform a surgery on a small child who would normally have to wait 6 years until she was big enough for the operation.
When she was born, Jayla Varga's jaw was no bigger than her mother's thumb, so small it pushed her tongue against her throat, preventing her from breathing or swallowing properly. The normal practice with children born with this condition is to put a tube through the baby's throat, and leave it there for years until the child is big enough for surgery to reshape her jaw.
But Jayla was spared those years of waiting because Dr. Tepper used a 3D model to plan the difficult surgery and to practice before the the final operation being performed. Thanks to the 3D model, Jayla had just one surgery, which worked perfectly to correct her breathing.
3D Systems expects this acquisition to create the largest 3D printing personalized surgery and medical device service and product capability available today and to be immediately accretive to its net income.
3D Systems also announced that it plans to consolidate all of its healthcare activities into a single unit under the leadership of former Medical Modeling President, Andy Christensen, who was named 3DS' Vice President, Personalized Surgery and Medical Devices.
"By leveraging our collective expertise, technologies and channels under the capable leadership of Andy Christensen, we plan to deliver an expanding range of direct metal and plastic medical devices designed to address this rapidly expanding opportunity." said Avi Reichental, 3DS President and CEO.
