{"id":70308,"date":"2026-05-06T00:01:02","date_gmt":"2026-05-05T22:01:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.3dnatives.com\/en\/?p=70308"},"modified":"2026-05-05T11:32:34","modified_gmt":"2026-05-05T09:32:34","slug":"tpm3d-sls-3d-printing-orthopedic-surgery-06042026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.3dnatives.com\/en\/tpm3d-sls-3d-printing-orthopedic-surgery-06042026\/","title":{"rendered":"From 30% to 5%: How SLS Surgical Guides Reduce Alignment Errors in Orthopedics"},"content":{"rendered":"

Orthopedic surgery is a field that demands extreme precision. During an operation, deviations in bone cuts or implant positioning by just a few millimeters can have serious consequences. To address this issue, AK Medical turned to additive manufacturing<\/a>: the company adopted TPM3D\u2019s SLS solutions to design ultra-precise, custom-made surgical guides<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

As you can imagine, altering the axis, size, or shape of a bone is a particularly delicate procedure. The same applies to joint replacement or tumor resections. These are extremely meticulous<\/strong> operations where every step must be planned with precision.<\/p>\n

Surgeons therefore rely on guides, technical aids, and surgical plans to guide them and reduce the risk of errors. Even a slight deviation in implant placement or osteotomy can lead to increased wear on the implant, a higher risk of revision surgery, or misaligned limbs.<\/p>

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Additive Manufacturing Enables Lower-Risk Procedures<\/h2>\n

Thankfully, issues can be avoided by implementing additive manufacturing. Using a patient\u2019s CT or MRI scans, AK Medical can design custom surgical guides. These are then 3D printed on TPM3D\u2019s SLS machines<\/a>. With the design freedom offered by additive manufacturing, these guides can incorporate cutting slots<\/strong> or predefined drilling paths<\/strong>, depending on the procedure to be performed.<\/p>\n

The result is a more precisely executed surgical procedure<\/strong>, with the surgeon able to follow a plan very accurately; shorter operating times<\/strong> and reduced risks<\/strong>. Clinical studies have also shown statistically significant reductions in intraoperative blood loss<\/strong> and postoperative drainage.<\/p>\n

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AK Medical\u2019s 3D printed surgical guide using TPM3D SLS technology<\/p><\/div>\n

The use of these 3D-printed guides also reduces alignment errors. Traditionally, alignment errors exceeding 3\u00b0 occur in 30% of procedures. This rate drops to 5% with SLS additive manufacturing. This means more durable implants, fewer complications for the patient, and, most importantly, a reduced risk of revision surgery<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Why Choose TPM3D\u2019s SLS Solutions?<\/h2>\n

As you can see, additive manufacturing simplifies surgical procedures and makes it easier to manage complex clinical cases. But why choose selective laser sintering<\/a> and TPM3D\u2019s solutions?<\/p>\n

AK Medical can design its custom guides using biocompatible nylon. They meet very strict sterilization and safety standards and are designed for single-use. Additionally, production lead times are reduced\u2014from several weeks to just a few days\u2014offering greater flexibility for all critical situations.<\/p>\n

On the machine side, AK Medical uses TPM3D\u2019s P360 SLS system<\/strong>, equipped with its PPS powder processing station. The machine has a compact footprint yet offers a build chamber of 360 x 360 x 600 mm<\/strong>. A nitrogen generator and active cooling are integrated to ensure stability and safety.<\/p>\n

Post-processing is streamlined because the PPS station cleans the parts, recovers the powder, mixes it, and feeds it back into the machine\u2014all within a closed-loop system. The production environment remains clean, human intervention is minimized, and the cost per part is reduced.<\/p>\n

AK Medical can therefore count on a reliable solution that will be integrated into standardized clinical use. SLS additive manufacturing is transforming orthopedic care and revolutionizing surgery by enabling the scalable, standardized production of patient-specific medical devices.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019d like to learn more about TPM3D\u2019s solutions, feel free to contact their teams HERE<\/a>.<\/p>\n

What do you think about the use of SLS 3D printing in orthopedic surgery? Let us know in a comment below or on our\u00a0<\/span>LinkedIn<\/span><\/a>\u00a0or\u00a0<\/span>Facebook<\/span><\/a>\u00a0<\/span>pages! Plus, don\u2019t forget to sign up for our free weekly\u00a0<\/span>Newsletter<\/span><\/a>\u00a0to get the latest 3D printing news straight to your inbox. You can also find all our videos on our\u00a0<\/span>YouTube<\/span><\/a>\u00a0channel.<\/span><\/p>\n

*Cover picture: TPM3D P360 SLS 3D Printer and Powder Processing Station (credits: TPM3D)<\/em><\/p>\n

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Orthopedic surgery is a field that demands extreme precision. During an operation, deviations in bone cuts or implant positioning by just a few millimeters can have serious consequences. To address this issue, AK Medical turned to additive manufacturing: the company…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6048,"featured_media":70310,"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-70308","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\/70308","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\/6048"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.3dnatives.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=70308"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.3dnatives.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70308\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":70406,"href":"https:\/\/www.3dnatives.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70308\/revisions\/70406"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.3dnatives.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/70310"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.3dnatives.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=70308"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.3dnatives.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=70308"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.3dnatives.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=70308"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}