There are many applications of 3D printing that have proven inspirational. Of those many applications, the medical applicationsmove the majority of us the most. It’s the e-Nable 3D printed prosthetic hand for kids, the Oxford Performance Materials 3D printed cranial plate used to repair a person’s skull, the possibilities of the Princeton bioprinted ear – It’s the new life-saving medical devices and reconstructive surgery that touch us deeply. News now comes from Osteo3d in Bangalore, India, that a young sufferer of tumours caused by benign and malignant cancer has recently benefited from a life-changing 3D printed implant.
The Osteo3d blog begins: “The patient ‘Mr. P’ had Oral benign and malignant cancer tumour on his right jaw which needed a surgical procedure to remove the affected region with a safe margin such that the disease does not spread further. If the surgery was not followed by a re-construction, it would have ended up in difficultly in speech, swallowing of food and appearances that lead to low social acceptance which could scar the psychology of the patient and also perhaps result in non-employability leading to reduced productive life.”
The young man had considerable deformation of his lower jaw, with considerable loss of bone, and disturbance to surrounding and epidermal tissue. The procedure to give new structure and functionality to the patient’s jaw required a resection of the right half of the mandible. This surgery, a micro vascular free bone transfer, involved taking bone from other parts of the patient’s body — specifically, as per the preference in such operations, the fibula supporting bone from the lower limb. The extracted bone is then finely contoured to precisely replace the damaged bone and, with great care join blood vessels – taken out with the fibula supporting bone – to the neck.
The 3D printed model was used to plan the careful reconstruction. Once the patients jaw had been 3D scanned and the model 3D printed, the model was sterilised and taken to the operation theatre, where maxillo-facial surgeon Dr. Satyajith Dandagi and his team awaited it. The tumour-diseased lower jaw was then removed in surgery. From there, the bone from the lower limb was extracted. As the fibula bone itself is straight, it was contoured using the 3D printed model. Once the bone was checked for it’s shape and fit, the replacement bone was afixed.
Osteo3d say: “3D printing has solved the arbitrary thinking and imagination of the surgeon. The 3D printed models help the surgical team to get ‘near normal shape and size’ of the reconstructed bone. The models printed prior to surgery will help to get most calculations of the lost bone right and the fit of the new bone will be mimicking the original jaw bone. This is especially true in large reconstructions requiring the three dimensional contouring.”
The 3D print proved a signifcant aid to producing the accurate measurements that were required for the vital operation. From here, Mr. P. Awaits the finishing touches to his newly restructured jaw, which will be a further surgery to implant his new teeth. It won’t be long before the patient has a fully functional, healthy new jaw, saving him from the tragedy of cancer and enabling him to begin a full life afresh.
Source: Osteo3d blog
