Novel design for a customized, 3D‐printed surgical template for thoracic spinal arthrodesis

Background The integration of computer‐aided design/computer‐aided manufacturing (CAD/CAM) tools and medicine is rapidly developing for designing medical devices. A novel design for a 3D‐printed patient‐specific surgical template for thoracic pedicle screw insertion, using a procedure based on reverse engineering, is presented. Methods The surgeon chooses the entry point on the vertebra. The optimal insertion direction and the size of the screws...