In the latest test of 3D printing in orthopedic surgery, neurosurgeons in The Netherlands announced that they successfully implanted a 3D printer skull to treat a 22-year old woman suffering from a bone disorder.
The procedure, carried out by surgeons at University Medical Center Utrecht, was carried out three months ago but was only disclosed after ensuring that the implant wasn’t rejected and the patient made a full recovery. Australian company Anatomics produced the 3-D skull implant.
Brain surgeon Dr. Bon Verweij led the operation, which took 23 hours, with orthodontic surgeon Dr. Marvick Muradin. The thickening of the skull puts the brain under increased pressure which impairs motor coordination and other essential brain functions but there was no effective treatment for these patients, Verweij said in a statement from the medical center. He explained that until now cement would be used to replace sections of skull in the case of accidents or in other surgeries. But 3D printing has some advantages over cement.
“We used to create an implant by hand in the operating theater using a kind of cement, but those implants did not have a very good fit,” says Verweij. “Now we can use 3D printing to ensure that these components are an exact fit. This has major advantages, not only cosmetically but also because patients often have better brain function compared with the old method.”
The announcement comes one year after an FDA cleared 3-D skull implant made by Oxford Performance Materials was used to replace 75 percent of a man’s skull.
It seems like 3D printer implants are getting to the point where in the future of healthcare they’ll be pretty much regarded as part of a surgeons toolkit alongside a catheter or a stent. The ability to customize implants and prosthetics for each patient is still awe-inspiring, though.
