A young patient from the Netherlands who suffered from a bone disease causing thickening of the skull has just received a skull prosthesis made entirely using a 3D printer.
As a result of her illness, the young woman’s cranium had grown from 1.5cm thick to 5cm, which compressed her brain and caused severe pain and impaired vision and coordination.
The patient has already returned to work
The doctors therefore had an Australian company specializing in 3D printing of prostheses made, a plastic prosthesis from a scan of their patient’s skull. They then implanted this prosthesis during an operation that lasted 23 hours.
“The patient, who was operated on three months ago, is doing well, has regained all her visual abilities and has even been able to resume her work” explained Dr Bon Vermeij, surgeon at the university medical center of Utrecht in the Netherlands. Low. “The implantation of a 3D printed skull prosthesis is not a world first, but this implant is the largest ever. This plastic skull box covers the entire skull from the bottom of the forehead to the back of the ears, ”adds the surgeon.
3D printing is a real breakthrough for surgeons. A few weeks ago, a British patient completely disfigured following a motorcycle accident received a 3D printed implant to reconstruct his face.