UT College of Veterinary Medicine neurologist Talisha Moore once did spinal surgery on a 1.1-pound Yorkshire terrier. Inserting pins in the dog’s tiny bones while carefully avoiding contact with its spinal cord was a harrowing task.
But Moore and other UTCVM neurologists—with the help of 3D printing and tech expert Richard Sexton at Pendergrass Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine Library—are now using 3D-printed spinal models and surgical guides to make such intricate surgeries easier and safer.
Moore’s work employing Sexton’s 3D models was recently featured on Mission Unstoppable, a CBS television show featuring actress Miranda Cosgrove that spotlights women in science, technology, engineering, and math. The show seeks to encourage teens, especially girls, to consider STEM-related careers.
“If you look at a lot of what’s happening in veterinary medicine, especially neurosurgery, 3D printing is becoming quite the phenomenon,” Moore said. “It reduces the chance of human error. It has vastly improved surgery.”
Yet, she said, 3D printing is not readily available to all veterinarians because of the technology and expertise needed. Moore said UTCVM faculty are fortunate to have access to 3D printing technology and technologists like Sexton who help them use it.
Pendergrass Tech Guru
Sexton, makerspace and technology coordinator at Pendergrass, began working for UT Libraries as an undergraduate student. After graduating in 1992, he became a full-time employee, and in 1997 he moved from John C. Hodges Library to Pendergrass.
When UT Libraries purchased 3D printers for Hodges and Pendergrass in 2013, Sexton began teaching himself to design and print objects. He’s become adept at accessing online design repositories and using web-based 3D modeling applications to create his own designs. Now his work time is devoted to 3D printing and technology troubleshooting.
“The library has been a great fit for me,” said Sexton, who’s always been interested in art, design, and drawing. “They’ve allowed me to grow this position and be innovative.”
Sexton’s 3D printing clients have included several UTCVM faculty members. For one, he printed a 3D model of a canine brain in a rubberlike material to mimic actual brain tissue, which is softer than bone and flexible. For another client, Sexton printed the “I-Stay,” a device that holds a cadaver animal’s eye so students can learn about eye anatomy.
His clients come from other colleges, too.
Sexton has designed a bean sorter for a graduate student in the Herbert College of Agriculture. And he’s been working with a graduate student in the Natalie L. Haslam College of Music to create a labeled tray to hold the disassembled pieces of a saxophone during instrument repairs.
Sexton said faculty and staff pay only for the 3D printing filament, not the labor involved in designing or printing objects. That keeps the service inexpensive.
“We’re here to remove barriers and provide access to technology that may not be available to everyone,” he said.
Well-Designed Collaboration
At UT since 2020, Moore has treated all sorts of animals—dogs, cats, snakes, hamsters, gerbils, farm animals, big cats, and recently a chimpanzee.
Spinal surgery employing 3D models is most common on dogs, she said. While spinal problems can stem from injuries, many are the result of congenital issues, especially in smaller breeds. Some breeds, like Yorkies and French bulldogs, are especially susceptible.
Having an exact replica of a patient’s spine allows surgeons to plan and practice their technique before surgery. Surgical guides fit onto the problem area, helping to ensure that surgeons can place pins to capture as much bone as possible without damaging the spinal cord or nearby anatomical structures.
Before 3D models were available, said Moore, “you used to freehand it, hoping you got [the pins] in the right place.”
Although Sexton helps many of his clients design the structures they need, UTCVM faculty usually do their own design work and send their completed designs to Sexton to print.
Moore said her UTCVM colleague William Thomas, also a neurologist, has taken the lead on using CT scans and MRI images to design plans for patient-specific spinal models and guides. Moore said she’s taken a class to hone her own 3D-printing design skills.
Moore expects that the use of 3D printing in veterinary surgery will grow as the technology evolves and becomes more widely available and as the design and printing processes get faster.
“Now you need the luxury of time, because the process takes time for imaging, planning, and printing,” she said. “It takes 24 to 48 hours at a minimum.”
For the TV segment, Sexton printed a portion of a pig spine for Moore to use as an example. It was large enough for viewers to easily see the bones and the spinal canal—and, of course, it was printed in UT orange.