3D Planning and Printing in Veterinary Orthopedics

Technology is revolutionizing many areas of medicine including veterinary orthopedics. Most notably, thanks to computed tomography (CT), one can very rapidly create virtual 3D reconstructions of a patient’s legs using advanced software. This is particularly useful for the diagnosis and assessment of limb and joint deformities. Moreover, these software programs enable the surgeons at KCCO to virtually plan and practice limb re-alignment on the computer so that we can assess how different ways of cutting and re-aligning the affected bones and joints will achieve straightening. An even more advanced step is to print patient-specific cutting guides, reduction guides, or implants. We are very comfortable and enjoy correcting limb deformities and have published unique ways to do this. Most commonly we use CT scans and 3D virtual planning to rehearse a patient deformity correction surgery to enhance accuracy and consistency.

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