Starting with an earlier Sigma system in 2015, the hospital upgraded to the Sigma R19 when it became available – and they’re thinking of investing in a second unit. The fact that BCN3D is a local company with a young team and fast-growth mentality shows that they have “loads of motivation for everything to go well and be the best,” Valls notes.

The Sigma R19 is one among several more industrial 3D printers, including FDM, PolyJet, and SLA technologies, used to meet the 3D Printing Unit’s overall needs. The convenience of the BCN3D system, though, lends itself to significant use in creating patient-specific anatomical models, personalized tools for surgery like cutting guides and positioning guides, and prototype parts of medical devices.

In many ways, the 3D Printing Unit isn’t turning to this technology as a replacement for older workflows; it’s developing entirely new ways of operating.

“This is a new way of doing surgical planning; before, it was just using an image and the knowledge of the surgeon, radiologist, and physicians,” Valls explains. “Now that 3D printing and 3D imaging is part of it, that’s new: there was no alternative. We use 3D printing in more than 70 surgeries planned per year.”

Hospital data from 2018 shows that the 3D Printing Unit participated in:

• 70+ surgeries
• 4 European projects
• 1 medical device
• 1 university course
• 4 R&D projects
• 8 publications

In just a year of use, the BCN3D printer paid for itself; this certainly makes the prospect of obtaining a second system more appealing to the hospital’s administration. Valls explains that “we could see a return even before one year; it depends on the demand in the number of cases in a given year.” In 2018, SJD Barcelona Children’s Hospital reported seeing 350,000 patients per year, opening the door to more potential use than 70 surgeries annually putting the 3D Printing Unit’s capabilities to use.

Although Valls declined to disclose the monetary cost savings to the hospital of in-house 3D printing, he was emphatic about the importance of the time savings that surgeons report: “We can have a 30% decrease in the time of a surgery, which necessarily means the reduction of costs is quite significant for the operating room. There are still costs associated with the 3D printing and materials use, but for the same cost overall you can have less time in surgery and more time spent in planning. This is better for patients, as they spend less time under anesthesia and can recover faster, seeing fewer consequences in the long term.”

The timeline for planning is, he clarified, lengthier – but that additional time spent pre-OR means less sedated time for the patient. The surgical team working on a patient can already have a hands-on understanding of the exact anatomy they’ll encounter, and can even have practiced ahead of the procedure to ensure a smooth operation.

“For the time and the price, it makes sense for us: that’s the key,” Valls says. “For the volume we have, having a 3D printer in a lab inside the hospital that is used throughout the year helps our patients. It also opens the door for participating in R&D projects, which is interesting for the hospital. We can really help European medicine to advance, as we are all operating in a base of medical additive manufacturing.”

For other hospitals considering adding 3D printing to their labs, Valls is confident that once medical personnel see and understand the benefits, “it grows quickly.” Not only is 3D printing technology itself growing quickly, but so too is physicians’ and surgeons’ comprehension of its practical applications in their practices. “In terms of investment, you need to take evolution of technology as well as regulations into account, as well as the demand,” he advises.

For SJD Barcelona Children’s Hospital, though, that demand is only rising as they continue to see the benefits in terms of patient care. With better simulation and training reducing complications, as well as efficiencies in the reduction of intervention time and improvement in results and quality of training, bringing 3D printing in-house has helped this hospital step forward as a leader in Spanish healthcare.

The hospital is planning to deepen its commitment to 3D printing in the future, with augmented reality (AR) navigation, patient and device tracking, and organ bioprinting on the horizon. For stages of early planning, Valls says, “3D printing may revolutionize the way surgeries are done” – and longer-term, “with bioprinting, we hope that one day we will see this too.”