A collaboration between Singapore’s National University Hospital and Johnson & Johnson will accelerate 3D printing adoption in healthcare and advances personalised patient care capability in Singapore.
The National University Hospital (NUH) today launched a 3D Printing Point-of-Care collaboration within Johnson & Johnson (J&J) to improve patient care capability and enhance personalised healthcare. This initiative is supported by the Singapore Economic Development Board (EDB) to accelerate healthcare innovation in Singapore.
Elevating Patient Care Through Personalisation
The collaboration between NUH and J&J Singapore aims to push the boundaries of surgical 3D printing in Singapore, elevate the standard of care for patients, and deliver better patient outcomes.
The 3D Printing (3DP) Point of Care Lab is managed by J&J Singapore within the premises of NUH, making it the first of its kind in Singapore. In this Point-of-Care model, J&J’s biomedical engineers will work closely with NUH clinicians to design and produce personalised anatomical models for preoperative planning and surgical simulation.
Surgery can often cause stress to patients and their families. With patient-specific anatomical models, surgeons can use them as visual tools to educate patients and their families and prepare them for their procedures. This helps reassure patients and reduce stress and anxiety ahead of the surgery.
“Johnson & Johnson has been pioneering innovative and personalised healthcare solutions that improve patients’ lives. With growing patient demands for more personalised care, it is our great honour to collaborate with National University Hospital to launch the first dedicated 3DP Point-of-Care collaboration in Singapore. The collaboration is also the first in Asia for Johnson & Johnson to provide technological solutions for clinical care within a hospital. Together with NUH and our strategic partners in the healthcare ecosystem, we are excited to accelerate the adoption of personalised 3D printing innovation and develop new solutions to address hospital and patient needs in Singapore,” said Mr Guillermo Frydman, Managing Director, Johnson & Johnson Singapore.
Enhancing Preoperative Planning
Preoperative planning plays a critical role in the success of surgeries. With the 3DP Point of Care collaboration, surgeons and clinicians will gain access to Johnson & Johnson’s expertise in 3D Printing development for their preoperative planning.
The presence of a dedicated lab within the hospital is pivotal in allowing clinicians to easily discuss cases with the biomedical engineers and fine-tuning their surgical plans using 3D printed models.
Using anatomical models specific to the patient, surgeons can now explore optimal surgical procedures via surgical simulations to pre-empt possible complications before conducting the actual surgery. This can also enable the surgery to be completed in a shorter time.
The lab can currently produce patient-specific anatomical models such as hips and knee joints, with plans to produce other medical devices and instruments such as surgical guides for complex surgery in the near future. Primed for the digital age, the lab will also explore mixed reality (MR) technology to support the development of next-generation clinical applications and better improve patient safety in surgery.
Professor James Hui, Head and Senior Consultant, Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, NUH said, “We are pleased to collaborate with Johnson & Johnson and we look forward to explore many more industry collaborations to push the boundaries for 3D printing in surgery and healthcare innovation. As a leading academic healthcare institution that greatly values and excels in research in innovation, NUH will tap on the 3D Printing Point of Care Lab to improve our clinical outcomes with personalised anatomical models and pioneer the development of new surgical techniques to deliver incredible care to our patients. The facility will also enhance our training and education of new surgeons and clinicians.” [APBN]
Source: National University Hospital and Johnson & Johnson