An Orthopedic Surgeon Wasn ’t Satisfied with Available Implants—So He Decided to 3D Print His Own

As one might expect from Additive Implants Inc.’s name, 3D printing is critical to the company’s mission. The company’s founder, an orthopedic spine surgeon, was frustrated at the available cervical spacer options for anterior cervical discectomy and fusion (ACDF) surgery, so he decided to develop his own, turning to additive manufacturing technologies for both prototyping and production. “The whole concept is to take advantage of designs and geometries that could not be cost effectively produced using CNC machining techniques,” Jeff Horn, VP Commercialization for Additive Implants, told MD+DI. “Our founder's first goal was to provide his patients with the best possible clinical outcome. He [has] so much clinical experience, he knows which implant designs work and do not work. As a company, we are always looking for ways to address unmet surgeon needs. We want to solve those clinical problems as economically as possible and provide the surgeon with instruments and implants that make the procedures reproducible, safe and simple so that excellent outcomes are reproducible.” The company just announced the FDA clearance of its first product. The SureMAX Cervical Spacer employs a 3D-printed titanium alloy. “Failure to achieve sagittal alignment due to hardware design limitations still exists in ACDF proc...
Source: MDDI - Category: Medical Devices Authors: Tags: 3-D Printing Source Type: news