Interview with Dr. Nicola Di Giuseppe

[Allen]

(Many thanks to @Nicola for agreeing to this interview in the Member Spotlight!  If you're working on a cool project or you'd like to be featured, send me a quick message!)  

 

 

1.  Hi Dr. Nicola, what's your background?

 

I am an ENT doctor at the hospital of TERAMO in Italy and I am practicing medicine for 20 years.  Over many years, I've developed a specialty in ENT pathology and head and neck surgery.

 

I also have two kids and enjoy spending summers by the sea in Roseto Degli Abruzzi, the town where I live on the coast of Adriatic sea in the region of Abruzzo in the center of Italy.

 

The beach by Roseto Degli Abruzzi

 

2. How did you come across medical 3d printing?

 

It was an accident! I’ve always had a passion for the interpretation of radiological images and the three-dimensional reconstruction of images. I needed to show a patient the cause of his nasal liquorrhea and I first started to make a virtual three-dimensional reconstruction to be viewed on the computer and then I also understood - thanks to the tutorials of Embodi3D- that it was possible to build real models from the data of a CT scan!

 

Medical 3d printing is a growing field in the modern medicine and surgery. It can be useful for the study of anatomy in universities as much as for patient-specific anatomy (such as vascular variants). It is also possible to use it for the study of complex clinical cases such as tumor diseases and for the pre-surgical programming of oncological or complex traumatic diseases.

 

3. To help out other members, what are some beginner tips on creating a model?

 

I have many models for sale in the Model Library and I've improved them many times.

 

The advice I would like to give to those who start with medical 3d printing is to learn how to use dicom image manipulation softwares like Horos, Slicer, etc. To start exporting small regions of interest to .stl files and to play a lot with one of the numerous .stl file manipulation softwares.

 

4. What's on your bookshelf? 

 

One of my side pleasures is the playing guitar and also reading. My current book is Stephen Hawking’s Brief Answers to the Big Questions.

 

 

5. If someone were to come visit you, where would you take them on a tour?

 

I live in Abruzzo, a region relatively unknown to tourists but it is certainly one of the most surprising in Italy.

 

One of the most interesting aspects is the great proximity between the sea, the hills and the mountains which make it the green region of Europe. Tourists can enjoy spending a morning at the beach, going to eat in one of the beautiful cities and then trekking in the mountains in the afternoon. A region full of ancient villages, fortresses, unspoiled nature and then the passion for traditions and for good food. Finally, Abruzzo is the land of large vineyards and excellent wines.

[Dr. Mike]

Thanks for being a great member Nicola!

 

If you want to see some of the terrific files Nicola has shared, click here.