3D printing for breast cancer patients

Most breast cancer work we see is about turning a CT or MRI scan into a physical object. That object is rarely the implant itself. It is a bolus, a positioning aid, a surgical guide, a phantom for dose planning, or a low-volume fixture that holds a tissue sample during imaging.

The common thread is that the part is patient-specific. A one-off geometry, built from scan data, often delivered on a short timeline. Injection molding does not make sense at a quantity of one. That is the gap 3D printing fills.

It also handles shapes that are hard to machine. Hollow shells, organic curves, lattice walls, and internal channels can be printed in one piece. A CNC mill would need several setups and still leave tool-access limits on the inside of a curved shell.

The starting point is a DICOM series. Someone has to segment the region of interest and export an STL or STEP file. This is the step where most projects lose time. Scans are noisy, and a threshold that works on bone may fail on soft tissue. Expect manual cleanup in the segmentation software before any printing starts.

Once you have a mesh, we check it for watertightness, wall thickness, and minimum feature size. A 0.4 mm nozzle cannot print a 0.2 mm wall. If the design calls for a 1 mm shell, we will say so early rather than print a part that fails after two uses.

Bring the original DICOM alongside the STL when you upload. If we can see the source, we can tell whether a thin wall is a real anatomical feature or a segmentation artifact. That saves a round of rework.

For parts that need to hold a tolerance, we prefer STEP over STL. A mesh is a faceted approximation. A STEP file carries the true surface, and it lets us machine the same geometry later if the production route changes.

Material selection depends on whether the part touches the patient, gets sterilized, or just sits in a planning room. A bolus that contacts skin needs a biocompatible resin and a surface that can be cleaned. A phantom that stays on a shelf does not.

For rigid guides and fixtures, PA12 in SLS is a workhorse. It is tough, holds threads well, and survives repeated handling. For clear parts, such as a shell used to check fit over a site, a clear photopolymer works but tends to yellow and get brittle over time.

When a part has to be steam-sterilized or carries load, plastic may not be the right answer. Here we often switch to PEEK, or to metal. That is a machining job, not a printing job. We machine PEEK, 316L, 17-4PH, and titanium TC4 to ±0.005 mm when the geometry allows.

For low-friction or chemical-resistant fixtures, POM and HDPE machine cleanly and cost less than PEEK. They are not sterilizable by autoclave at high cycle counts, so check your cleaning protocol first.

• 1
  PA12 (SLS)Tough general-purpose guide and fixture material.
• 2
  Clear photopolymerGood for fit checks; ages under UV and heat.
• 3
  PEEK / 316L / TC4Machined when sterilization or load matters.
• 4
  POM / HDPELow-cost machined fixtures; check cleaning method.

Printing loses on three fronts: tolerance, surface finish, and material density. A printed part typically lands around ±0.1 mm on a good day, and layer lines are visible unless you post-process. If the drawing says ±0.02 mm, print it and then machine the critical faces, or machine the whole part.

Hollow shells are a trap. A printed wall can look solid in the model and come out porous in the hand. If the shell has to hold vacuum or fluid, pressure-test a sample before you commit to a batch.

Anisotropy matters too. FDM parts are weaker across the layer direction. A guide that gets clamped in one axis may split along a layer line. Orient the part so the load runs in-plane, or pick SLS, which is more uniform.

Finally, regulatory path. A printed part that touches a patient falls under device rules in most markets. Printing does not change that. If you need documented material traceability and inspection reports, say so at the quote stage, not after the first article.

You upload the STL or STEP plus the source scan. We return a quotation and a DFM analysis within 12 hours, free. That analysis flags thin walls, unsupported overhangs, and any feature that will not survive the process.

Approved designs go to production within 24 hours. Simple printed parts ship in 3–5 days. Machined metal parts follow the same window for small quantities, assuming the material is in stock.

Every part gets a raw material check, in-process monitoring, and a final inspection before it ships. We hold ISO 9001:2015, ISO 13485:2016, IATF 16949:2016, and ISO 27001:2022. Inspection reports are available on request, and we sign an NDA before you send scan data if you want one.

No minimum order quantity. One prototype or a 10,000-piece run. The quote does not change because the batch is small.