{"id":27264,"date":"2021-02-05T15:00:50","date_gmt":"2021-02-05T15:00:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.3dnatives.com\/en\/?p=27264"},"modified":"2021-02-05T14:27:19","modified_gmt":"2021-02-05T14:27:19","slug":"materialise-double-transplant-050220215","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.3dnatives.com\/en\/materialise-double-transplant-050220215\/","title":{"rendered":"World\u2019s First Double Hand and Face Transplant achieved with Materialise 3D Printing Technology"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Earlier this week, a team of Materialise clinical engineers and NYU Langone surgeons made history with the world\u2019s first double hand and face transplant. The success of this transplant largely owes to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.3dnatives.com\/en\/avinent-medical-solutions-interview-230820194\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">3D printed personalized tools<\/a> that are becoming <a href=\"https:\/\/www.3dnatives.com\/en\/applications-by-sector\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">increasingly common<\/a> for use in routine surgery. Materialise\u2019s 3D planning and printing tools, allowed surgeons the speed and accuracy necessary to successfully conduct this complex medical procedure. The 22-year-old patient was a victim of a car crash wherein he suffered burn wounds, significant soft tissue damage, and severe injuries to his face and arms. Led by Dr. Eduardo D. Rodriguez, the Helen L. Kimmel Professor of Reconstructive Plastic Surgery and chair of the Hansj\u00f6rg Wyss Department of Plastic Surgery at NYU Langone, this procedure is expected to improve the patient\u2019s function, appearance and quality of life.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">3D modeling played a crucial role in the preparation of the surgery. While the team had fourteen months to prepare, once a suitable donor was found they would have only 24 hours to begin the procedure. This meant that there was very little room for flaws in the surgical plan or last-minute decisions. Materialise engineers used the patient\u2019s CT-scans to create a personalized 3D model. Thanks to this model, surgeons and clinical engineers were able to virtually plan the procedure and preempt potential scenarios. The 3D model offered a highly detailed and personalized rendering of the patient\u2019s anatomical bone structure. This allowed them to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.3dnatives.com\/en\/study-shows-growth-3d-printed-surgical-model-market-190120215\/#!\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">accurately rehearse the operation<\/a> and fine-tune their plan accordingly. The team was thus able to determine the optimal surgical flow and create an accurate surgical plan.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_27265\" style=\"width: 710px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-27265\" class=\"wp-image-27265 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.3dnatives.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/02\/0502-hand-face-transplant.001-e1612522914362.jpeg\" alt=\"Materialise Double Transplant \" width=\"700\" height=\"362\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.3dnatives.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/02\/0502-hand-face-transplant.001-e1612522914362.jpeg 700w, https:\/\/www.3dnatives.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/02\/0502-hand-face-transplant.001-e1612522914362-600x310.jpeg 600w, https:\/\/www.3dnatives.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/02\/0502-hand-face-transplant.001-e1612522914362-160x83.jpeg 160w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-27265\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Pre-surgical planning made it possible for surgeons to virtually select and position various medical implants to predict the optimal anatomical fit. (Photo Credit: Materialise)<\/p><\/div>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Bryan Crutchfield, Vice President and General Manager commented on the importance of 3D modelling: <em>\u201cImage-based planning and medical 3D printing have completely revolutionized personalized patient care by providing surgeons with detailed insights and an additional level of confidence before entering the operation room\u201d.<\/em> He continued <em>\u201cas a result, leading hospitals are adopting 3D planning and printing services as part of their medical practices because they create a level of predictability that would be impossible to achieve without the use of 3D technologies.\u201d<\/em><\/p><div class=\"dnati-inside-article-leaderboard\" style=\"text-align: center;\" id=\"dnati-1358134913\"><a data-no-instant=\"1\" href=\"https:\/\/eu.snapmaker.com\/products\/snapmaker-u1-3d-printer?utm_source=3dnatives&#038;utm_medium=pr&#038;utm_campaign=u1launch2025&#038;utm_content=u1preorder\" rel=\"noopener\" class=\"a2t-link\" target=\"_blank\" aria-label=\"850 x 150px\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.3dnatives.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/03\/850-x-150px-scaled.jpeg\" alt=\"\"  srcset=\"https:\/\/www.3dnatives.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/03\/850-x-150px-scaled.jpeg 2560w, https:\/\/www.3dnatives.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/03\/850-x-150px-600x106.jpeg 600w, https:\/\/www.3dnatives.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/03\/850-x-150px-1200x212.jpeg 1200w, https:\/\/www.3dnatives.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/03\/850-x-150px-768x136.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/www.3dnatives.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/03\/850-x-150px-1536x271.jpeg 1536w, https:\/\/www.3dnatives.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/03\/850-x-150px-2048x361.jpeg 2048w, https:\/\/www.3dnatives.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/03\/850-x-150px-160x28.jpeg 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\" width=\"850\" height=\"150\"   \/><\/a><\/div>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The 3D tools used in pre-surgical planning also enabled the surgical team to select the medical implants as well as predict their optimal anatomical positioning. Once they had established the surgical plan, Materialise 3D printed the anatomical models and tools for use during the transplant surgery. This included a fully guided system for bone fragment repositioning and fixation unique to the patient\u2019s anatomy. The precision offered by these medical tools meant that the total surgery time was heavily reduced. Materialise also 3D printed models that were used during donor transport, and 3D printed splints, enabling optimal donor hand position during soft tissue reconstruction.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_27267\" style=\"width: 710px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-27267\" class=\"wp-image-27267 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.3dnatives.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/02\/0502-hand-face-transplant.003-e1612522885615.jpeg\" alt=\"Materialise Double Transplant \" width=\"700\" height=\"376\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.3dnatives.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/02\/0502-hand-face-transplant.003-e1612522885615.jpeg 700w, https:\/\/www.3dnatives.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/02\/0502-hand-face-transplant.003-e1612522885615-600x322.jpeg 600w, https:\/\/www.3dnatives.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/02\/0502-hand-face-transplant.003-e1612522885615-160x86.jpeg 160w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-27267\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Materialise engineers coordinated the development of a surgical plan and created an on-screen 3D model based on CT-scans. (Photo Credit: Materialise)<\/p><\/div>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">According to Dr. Rodriguez, <em>\u201c<\/em><em>c<\/em><em>omplex transplant surgery like this brings together a large team of specialists and presents new and unique challenges<\/em><em>. <\/em><em>This demands careful planning and makes timing, efficiency and accuracy absolutely critical. Virtually planning the surgery in 3D and creating 3D printed, patient-specific tools offers additional insights in the pre-operative phase and increased levels of speed and accuracy during a time-critical surgery\u201d.<\/em><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\" style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span class=\"s1\">You can read the full press release <a href=\"https:\/\/www.materialise.com\/en\/press-releases\/3d-support-world-first-double-hand-face-transplant\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">here<\/a>. What do you think about this procedure? Let us know in a comment below or on our <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/3Dnatives\/\"><span class=\"s2\">Facebook<\/span><\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/3Dnatives_en\/\"><span class=\"s2\">Twitter<\/span><\/a>\u00a0pages! Sign up for our free weekly\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.3dnatives.com\/en\/3d-printing-newsletter\/\"><span class=\"s2\">Newsletter here<\/span><\/a>, the latest 3D printing news straight to your inbox!<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Earlier this week, a team of Materialise clinical engineers and NYU Langone surgeons made history with the world\u2019s first double hand and face transplant. The success of this transplant largely owes to 3D printed personalized tools that are becoming increasingly&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6075,"featured_media":27270,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"content-type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[32,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-27264","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-medical","category-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.3dnatives.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27264","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.3dnatives.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.3dnatives.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.3dnatives.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6075"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.3dnatives.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27264"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.3dnatives.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27264\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27278,"href":"https:\/\/www.3dnatives.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27264\/revisions\/27278"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.3dnatives.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27270"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.3dnatives.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27264"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.3dnatives.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27264"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.3dnatives.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27264"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}