Sidney University. Australia: A biomedical engineering team based at the University of Sydney has
developed a new low cost method for producing bone replacement implants
for severely damaged skulls. The group worked with a Sydney
neurosurgeon to create the new 3D printing technique that enables
clinicians to produce a patient-matched implant in a matter of days
rather than several weeks.
Dr Phillip Boughton, head Faculty of Engineering's cutting edge Implant Design and Manufacture laboratory and supervisor of the project says:
"Serious
head trauma can lead to significant loss of skull bone. The current
procedure requires a surgeon to stretch and stitch excess skin around
the wound and wait until a suitable implant can be produced."
"Our
new rapid templating method makes it possible to generate
patient-matched, safe, sterile cranioplasty implants using polymer based
bone cement within days of receiving a patient scans."
The rapid
templating craniosplasty technique is not only faster but also
significantly cheaper than current methods used to match a patient's
anatomy says Annabelle Chan, PhD researcher on the project.
"Cranioplasty
implants widely used to reconstruct smashed bone include titanium
meshes and 3D printed parts or bone cement moulded by hand. They can
cost as much as five thousand dollars.
The biomedical engineers worked with Dr James Van Gelder lead neurosurgeon at Liverpool Hospital.
"Existing
3D printed implants are weaker; they are also associated with a higher
risk for contamination that can lead to infection or inflammation,"
states Dr Van Gelder.
"I was particularly interested in working
with biomedical engineers to create implants for individual patients.
Implants that could be customised based on radiology and my specific
requirements for the patient.
"Anatomical matching of patient's
skull bone is important for improving a patient's quality of life
post-operation" says Doctor Van Gelder
"With this new technique we
are able to create a sterile template of the patients damaged region,
then in a sterile environment apply bio-compatible polymer bone cement
to that patient's specific template to produce their personalised
implant."
The pioneering technique has successfully been used on several patients.
The team of biomedical researchers responsible of the rapid templating craniosplasty also includes David Shen, and Jeremy Kwarcinski.
"We've had some great initial clinical success for cranioplasty and the
next steps will be to help regenerate bone and cartilage via our rapid
templated scaffold implant systems," says Jeremy who will undertake his
PhD at the University in 2015.