Eurostars for 3D printing innovation in orthopedics

European consortium receives money to develop an end-to-end solution for 3D printed orthopedic models for presurgical planning.

Utrecht, March 11th,  2019 – University Medical Center Utrecht, axial3D and MRIguidance have been granted the European Eurostars grant to co-develop their 3D printing innovation for presurgical planning in orthopedics. By combining MRIguidance’ imaging software with the 3D printing expertise of axial3D and the clinical validation in UMC Utrecht, we will create an end-to-end solution for radiation free presurgical planning. It is the aim to reduce surgery time and improve the clinical outcome.

Preoperative planning with 3D models of affected anatomical structures improves surgical outcomes, reducing operative time, blood loss, infection risk and associated complications. However, 3D-printing of bony pathologies currently requires imaging with harmful radiation and a laborious and time-consuming workflow. The European consortium aims to overcome these limitations, thereby paving the way for widespread adoption of 3D-printed models for patient specific orthopedic treatment.

“Our BoneMRI imaging technology that visualizes bone with an MRI scan. These images can serve as source images to develop the 3D-printed models.” according to Roel Raatgever, CEO of MRIguidance. “I am very happy with our collaboration with axial3D and UMC Utrecht. We form a strong and complementary team that can bring this project to a success.” The innovation is aimed to be available for use in the clinic in 2021.

Utrecht, February 2026 – MRIguidance has released a new update to BoneMRI, making the solution easier to use across the hospital workflow while expanding compatibility with scanners, systems, and IT environments.

A key feature of the release is new stitching functionality, which allows clinicians to generate combined anatomical regions of e.g. the cervical, thoracic and lumbar spine, into a single, continuous image, providing total spine views. This enables assessment of pathology across multiple spinal regions without switching between image series, which might improve clinical confidence by visualizing anatomical relationships in one comprehensive view, and reduce interpretation time by eliminating manual cross-referencing between sub-regions.

The update also introduces extended compatibility across imaging platforms and infrastructure. BoneMRI now supports pelvic region imaging across the full range of GE, Siemens, and Philips MRI scanners at both 1.5T and 3T. In addition, the software expands support for Enhanced DICOM processing and is now compatible with Windows Server 2025 OS via the MRIguidance Gateway.

These improvements enhance interoperability with MRI scanners and DICOM inputs, simplify coordination with hospital IT departments, and broaden anatomical and vendor coverage to support smoother clinical adoption.

The release also includes additional support and security enhancements.

The latest BoneMRI update benefits radiologists, MR technologists, IT teams, and surgeons, further strengthening BoneMRI’s role in efficient, radiation-free bone imaging across clinical workflows.

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