GOVPH

Philippine FAB LAB Network trains Head and Neck Surgeons on 3D Printing
by Rentor Cafino, MD
Manager, ENT-HNS Medical Makerspace of the Zamboanga City Medical Center

It’s a benchie, it’s a toy, it’s a mandible! 

-Otorhinolaryngologists from all over the Philippines took part in a 3D printing workshop. 

FAB Health Philippines: Training Workshop on 3D Printing for Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery was hosted by member institutions of FAB LABS Philippines in partnership with the Philippine Society of Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery (PSO-HNS), and the Philippine Academy Craniomaxillofacial Surgery (PACMFS).

Coordinated by PSO-HNS Northern Mindanao Chapter and MSU-IIT as the FAB LABs Philippines Network Growth Chair, the originally small training program implemented in 2021 grew into a robust nationwide workshop attended by over 60 PSO-HNS fellows and residents from medical institutions all over the Philippines.

The 3 day event on March 12, 19, and 26, 2022 was a hybrid of online and face-to-face interactions hosted by FAB LAB Mindanao of the Mindanao State University-Iligan Institute of Technology, ENT-HNS Medical Makerspace of the Zamboanga City Medical Center, Digihub Fablab Davao of the University of Southeastern Philippines, SSF FabLab Eastern Visayas of the Philippine Science High School-Eastern Visayas Campus, LIKHA FAB LAB of the Batangas State University, Fablab Bicol of Bicol University and Puzzlebox 3D Printer Philippines with Baguio General Hospital Medical Center.

 The doctors were taught how to extract 3D images from CT scan files, manipulate the files and finally bring it into reality by 3D printing. In his synthesis lecture for Discover Makers: FAB Health Philippines, Dr. Armando Isla Jr., president of PSO-HNS Northern Mindanao Chapter emphasized that recognizing the need for FAB LABs and medical institutions to collaborate in order to provide solutions is definitely a step forward in the right direction for innovations in Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery.