Kidney surgery using 3D printing technology performed for the first time in the MENA region.

Dubai, United Arab Emirates, December 12, 2016:  Doctors at Dubai Hospital performed a kidney surgery using 3D technology, making the hospital the first in the MENA region to use this technology for kidney surgery.

Dr Yaser Al Saeedi, Consultant Urologist at Dubai Hospital and main surgeon for this surgery performed the procedure on a 42-year-old Palestinian expatriate who had a tumour in her kidney. 

She visited Dubai Hospital for a second opinion after other healthcare providers told her that she would have to undergo radical surgery to remove her kidney.

Her tumour was deep within the kidney the and was located in the posterior part of the kidney near the blood vessels and ureter and thus there were reduced chances of saving the kidney and removing only the tumour without 3D technology.

His Excellency Humaid Al Qatami, Chairman of the Board and Director-General of the DHA, said: “The DHA spares no effort in incorporating the latest technology to better patient outcomes. 3D technology allows doctors to better plan their surgery and perform minimally invasive procedures. Using 3D technology for surgeries and other medical purposes is the future and we are currently working on developing regulations for 3D printing for patients and the medical sector in Dubai. We are also looking at training doctors and healthcare professionals on the use of this technology.”

Dr Mohammad Al Redha, Director of Transformational Office at the DHA said: “In this case, when the doctor informed us that he would benefit from a 3D model to plan the surgery pre-operatively, we got a 3D model manufactured from the United States. The aim of using 3D technology is to perform minimally invasive procedures and opt for radical surgery only where there is no option. 3D printing has several benefits particularly in such complicated cases.”

Dr Yaser Al Saeedi, Consultant Urologist at Dubai Hospital and main surgeon for this surgery said that he requested a 3D kidney model to assist him in preparing for a complex kidney tumor surgery because the aim was to only remove the tumour and not the kidney. 
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Medativ created a 3D printed replica of the kidney, featuring the tumor, ureter and the vasculature. 

Dr Al Saeedi said: “In this case it was very important because medical imaging did not adequately portray the location of the tumor and it’s spatial relationship to other structures. The 3D replica of the kidney allowed us to better asses our surgical approach and ultimately facilitated a safe partial nephrectomy (removal of mass), instead of total nephrectomy (removing the entire kidney). The complete dissection of the tumor was made easier as a result of using the model, ultimately resulting in a shorter and safer procedure.”

He added that normally the procedure takes about 5 hours but in this case due to pre-operative planning using a 3D model the procedure took only 3 hours, of which the complete removal of the tumour took only 28 minutes.

The patient is fully recovered and will be discharged within few days.