A new book chapter has been published on Factories of the Future:
E. Lanzarone, S. Marconi, M. Conti, F. Auricchio, I. Fassi, F. Modica, C. Pagano, G. Pourabdollahian. “Hospital Factory for Manufacturing Customised, Patient-Specific 3D Anatomo-Functional Models and Prostheses“, in “Factories of the Future”, editors: T. Tolio, G. Copani, W. Terkaj. Springer (2019), pp. 233-254
The fabrication of personalised prostheses tailored on each patient is one of the major needs and key issues for the future of several surgical specialties. Moreover, the production of patient-specific anatomo-functional models for preoperative planning is an important requirement in the presence of tailored prostheses, as also the surgical treatment must be optimised for each patient. The presence of a prototyping service inside the hospital would be a benefit for the clinical activity, as its location would allow a closer interaction with clinicians, leading to significant time and cost reductions. However, at present, these services are extremely rare worldwide. Based on these considerations, we investigate enhanced methods and technologies for implementing such a service. Moreover, we analyse the sustainability of the service and, thanks to the development of two prototypes, we show the feasibility of the production inside the hospital.
