Ground breaking 3D software which will help to virtually plan surgery and reconstruction for cancer and trauma patients has been introduced at The Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust (SaTH).
It has been made possible thanks to a generous donation of nearly £50,000 from a patient and the League of Friends of the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital (RSH).
The donation has enabled a new 3D Printing and Surgical Planning service to be introduced in The Maxillofacial and Orthodontic Laboratory, based in the RSH – meaning quicker and more advanced treatment for patients.
The service has already been used to plan surgery for a patient with cancer of the upper jaw, a patient with a large cyst close to the eye and a patient who has suffered serious facial injuries in a cycling accident.
The League of Friends of RSH received a legacy of £37,570 from Doris Cooper, in appreciation of the wonderful care she received from Consultant Mr Sunil Bhatia, the Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery teams and Head and Neck Cancer services at SaTH.
Mr Bhatia said: “When I received a copy of the solicitor’s letter from the League of Friends saying that Mrs Cooper had mentioned me and gifted a legacy of almost £40,000 to be used to improve the life of other cancer patients, I couldn’t believe it.
“After some consideration, and with help from the League of Friends, this piece of equipment will help us to plan virtual surgery and take us into the 21st century. While we have been trying to deliver the latest and best treatment it has been difficult as we had to send the scans out and the models were made elsewhere.
“With this being in-house we are now able to perform virtual surgery to remove cancer from a very difficult area of the body, and we are also now able to very accurately predict the defect and also fabricate a framework from patient bone or a titanium.”
Samantha Bunn, Manager of The Maxillofacial and Orthodontic Laboratory at SaTH, said: “The Maxillofacial prosthetists have started to use ground breaking software and equipment to plan surgery and reconstruction for cancer and trauma patients.
