CASE REPORT   

European Journal of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery 2022 April;6(1):36-40

DOI: 10.23736/S2532-3466.21.00254-X

Copyright © 2021 EDIZIONI MINERVA MEDICA

language: English

Preparation of surgical guides through an open-source software: report of two cases

Luis F. ALVES DEIP ✉, Valber BARBOSA MARTINS, Gustavo CAVALCANTI DE ALBUQUERQUE, Marcelo V. OLIVEIRA, Joel MOTTA JUNIOR

Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Amazonas State University (UEA), Manaus, Brazil

Virtual surgical planning and three-dimensional-printing are commonly used nowadays owing to the advances in digital technologies. The vast digital information obtained through complementary examination is compiled in specific software to generate a “virtual patient.” The possibilities of treatment planning are numerous in oral and maxillofacial surgery. Today, fabrication of customized parts of facial bones according to individual patient needs is possible through three-dimensional printers. The development of newer technologies has been beneficial for both the surgeon and the patient, offering greater possibilities and agilities in treatments. The objective of this work is to report the digital workflow of two cases, which was used to aid the planning and execution of the respective surgical procedures, emphasizing the fabrication of the surgical guide and the virtual planning performed using an open-source software. This report presents two cases in which surgical guides were virtually designed and three-dimensionally printed to maintain the perimeter of the mandible and position of the bone segments in mandibular reconstruction. The use of an open-source software for three-dimensional surgical planning is an important development in oral and maxillofacial surgery, as it assists in the fabrication of high-precision guides, providing excellent results while facilitating learning beyond surgical practice and economical and accessible planning, with higher predictability, reliability, and reproducibility.

KEY WORDS: Printing, three-dimensional; Mandibular reconstruction; Workflow; Surgery, oral