Three-dimensional printing applications in veterinary surgery

Thanks to three-dimensional (3D) image structuring methods, 3D printing products have been used for many purposes in veterinary medicine in recent years. It can be used in many stages like vocational training in veterinary surgery, informing the patient before the operation, surgery planning, surgical method rehearsal, patient-specific intraoperative drilling and cutting guide, patient-specific implant, prosthesis, or orthosis production. The fact that the patient-specific model can be produced with 3D printing and its similarity to reality, the economic and minimal microbial risk makes 3D models attractive. It is inevitable that its effective use will become widespread in Turkey with its advantages such as the advantages it provides in treatment, being economical and allowing patient-specific procedures. In this article, the potential of the use of 3D printing products in veterinary medicine and especially in veterinary surgery, the stages of 3D printing production, current applications, areas of use, current situation, and future are examined in detail. Thanks to the 3D model, the physiopathology and treatment process can be shown more clearly on the organ model to patient owners, providing great convenience to veterinarians. Veterinarians can produce any material that they can use in clinical practice with 3D printing. Apart from these basic applications, advanced surgical planning and rehearsal procedures, production and intraoperative use of patient-specific drilling and cutting guides, production of patient-specific implants and various biomaterials, and other applications that have been studied have effective advantages in increasing the success of treatment. In case the surgical method requires a complex series of procedures and the area to be operated includes complex and intricate structures, the success of the surgery is increased by performing advanced surgical planning with 3D printing products. Thanks to this rehearsal, shortening the operation and anesthesia time, reducing the possibility of mistake and iatrogenic damage in the surgical procedure, pre-planning the materials and implants to be used according to this model, and bending the implants if necessary, giving the ideal shape before the operation provide important advantages. It is inevitable that 3D printing will be used more widely and effectively in veterinary surgery in the near future. Studies on the use of 3D printing technology in veterinary clinical sciences, especially in veterinary surgery, will provide significant benefits and original contributions to veterinary surgery practice.