There are few niches left in 3D printing with only one dominant player. When it comes to life-like full-color anatomical models, hospitals, medical device manufacturers, and research institutions almost exclusively turn to Stratasys, and for good reason. The company’s proprietary PolyJet 3D printing technology can produce medical models with patient-specific accuracy enough for surgical planning, realistic textures suitable for training, and in convincing full color.
“The realism our printer brings to anatomical models is unparalleled, making complex surgical procedures more predictable,” says Erez Ben-Zvi, Stratasys’ VP of medical.
The adoption hurdle, though, has been price, which is why Stratasys just launched what could be described as a smaller version of its J850 Digital Anatomy 3D printer in hopes of luring more medical industry professional to adopt 3D printing.
The new small-footprint J5 Digital Anatomy 3D printer puts the creation of biomechanically accurate and functional anatomical models within reach of more customers, Stratasys says.
“We’ve had the J850 Digital Anatomy printer for a few years now in the market and we think that all of the major well-funded institutions have already purchased it,” Ido Bitan, Stratasys’ director of product management for the medical department, told All3DP at Rapid + TCT. “But a lot more customers, hospitals, small or medium medical device companies did not get their hands on it because it was too complicated to operate and too big of an instrument.”
If the J5 Digital Anatomy looks familiar, perhaps exactly like the company’s J5 MediJet, there’s an easy explanation. These two J5s offer near identical capabilities, build volume, and resolution, but with a few new features in the “Digital Anatomy” version. In fact, if you have a J5 MediJet you can upgrade it to become a J5 Digital Anatomy for $60,000.
“[Customers have] known the J5 MediJet for two years now and as soon as it hit the market, they asked, ‘can we get the additional features of the J850 Digital Anatomy printer on this platform because we don’t have the room to have the big platform,’ and that’s why we started working on it,” says Bitan.
Unique Features of the New J5 Digital Anatomy
Digital Anatomy offers more materials, for example, a third biocompatible material called Digital ABS Plus, a second rubber-like material called ElasticoBlack, and four anatomy-specific materials: TissueMatrix, GelMatrix, BoneMatrix, and RadioMatrix for visibility under X-Ray and CT scan. These materials can be Gamma sterilized, which is also new.
The material options produce models that mimic the behavior and response of real human tissue, Stratasys says, providing realistic haptic feedback for procedures such as suturing, incision, and screw insertion.
The Digital Anatomy comes with print presets to mimic different anatomies, a second support material option (water soluble WSS 150), and two new build modes (long print and high speed).
J5 Digital Anatomy Tech Specs & Price
- Technology: resin-based PolyJet
- Build Volume: 140 x 200 x 190 mm
- Minimum Layer Thickness: 18 microns
- Network Connectivity: LAN – TCP/IP
- Software: GrabCAD Print
- Materials: Proprietary
- Price: $135,000
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