Application of 3D Printing in the Construction of Burr Hole Ring for Deep Brain Stimulation Implants.

3D printing has been widely applied in the medical field since the 1980s, especially in surgery, such as preoperative simulation, anatomical learning and surgical training. This raises the possibility of using 3D printing to construct a neurosurgical implant. Our previous works took the construction of the burr hole ring as an example, described the process of using softwares like computer aided design (CAD), Pro/Engineer (Pro/E) and 3D printer to construct physical products. That is, a total of three steps are required, the drawing of 2D-image, the construction of 3D-image of burr hole ring, and using a 3D printer to print the physical model of burr hole ring. This protocol shows that the burr hole ring made of carbon fiber can be rapidly and accurately molded by 3D printing. It indicated that both CAD and Pro/E softwares can be used to construct the burr hole ring via integrating with the clinical imaging data and further applied 3D printing to make the individual consumables.