Fractured the skull?

Print a new one on a 3D printer!

Julia Korowski, XX2 century, based on ScienceDaily: Patient receives 3-D printed skull after traumatic brain injury

No, the patient got a different skull. But this one is also printed on a 3D printer.
The brainchild of sculptor Joshua Harker
demonstrates the capabilities of the technology.

After spending two months in a coma, Chris Cahill woke up in the hospital, not understanding where he was and what had happened to him. Chris was found unconscious with a severe head injury. The swelling of the brain was so serious that there was a threat to life – it was necessary to stop it, and then return the skull bones to their place. Unfortunately, the patient's tissues were infected, so it was impossible to use his own skull. Doctors from Robert Wood Johnson Medical School they got out of the situation by replacing the bone tissue with a part printed on a 3D printer.

Focusing on the results of computed tomography, doctors created a 3D model of the patient's skull and an implant that could replace the missing piece. "We practiced on the model," explains surgeon Gaurav Gupta. "When the cranial bone implant was printed, millimeter by millimeter, we combined the new implant with the skull model and made sure that they fit perfectly together." In fact, the area of the skull that needed to be replaced turned out to be very large, so the doctors had to make two implants and connect them together. When Cahill found out that some of his fabrics were going to be replaced with a part printed on a printer, he did not believe it at first. "I was wondering: can they really do this? But Dr. Gupta had already saved my life once, and I trusted him completely," says Cahill.

Gaurav Gupta and his patient Chris Cahill.

To print the implant, Gupta agreed with the manufacturer of medical devices DePuy Synthes CMF. The implant is made of polyesteresterketone (PEEK) – durable stable material with high biocompatibility. Before 3D printing technology appeared, surgeons replaced parts of the skull with a metal mesh, but it was less strong, and the technology was less accurate. The new implant, on the contrary, managed to fit almost perfectly, since it was made on the basis of computed tomography data of the patient himself. Representatives of DePuy Synthes CMF claim that the "details" printed in this way reduce the operation time and give the best "aesthetic result". The implants are also resistant to impact and destruction.

Before the operation, the patient needed to grow an additional piece of skin that would cover the implant. In order for his installation not to spoil Cahill's appearance, a specialist in plastic and reconstructive surgery was involved in the case. He put a tissue expander on the patient, and after a while Dr. Gupta performed a four-hour operation and implanted the missing "piece of the skull". The operation went well and the patient recovered quickly. The incision is located behind the hairline, so the scars are not visible. "I was nervous about how I would look after the surgery," Cahill says. "I was glad that I looked the same and felt the same again."

Portal "Eternal youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru  27.07.2017