The surgical treatment of spinal deformity in children with myelomeningocele: the role of personalized three-dimensional printed models

This study was carried out to evaluate the benefits of personalized three-dimensional printing as an aid to the performance of surgery for the correction of spinal deformity in children with myelomeningocele. We performed a retrospective review to include all such children for whom personalized three-dimensional spine models were used for surgical planning (group A) and compared them through subjective and objective criteria to a similar group that had no models (group B). The seven children in group A were younger and had more complex deformities than the 10 children in group B. The models provided a markedly improved appreciation of the complex anatomy and enabled the planning and performance of patient-specific spinal instrumentation that was secure and low profile. The efficiency of the surgery as measured by intraoperative fluoroscopy time and blood loss and the extent of the deformity correction was comparable or superior in group A.