Australian researchers are now using 3D printing to produce highly accurate bone replacements for head trauma victims.
Researchers at the University of Sydney have begun printing templates of missing skull pieces and successfully trialling them on patients with injuries from the size of a 20 cent piece up to 40 per cent of a patient’s skull missing.
The bone segment is finished in a few days and costs only $300, compared to current cranioplasty implants which take weeks to manufacture and cost thousands of dollars.
Biomedical engineer Dr Phillip Boughton pioneered the invention to improve methods of skull repair.
“It can be anything from motor bike accidents through to … one of our first patients was someone who unfortunately walked into a propeller,” he said.
“So it’s very difficult to salvage skull bone, particularly when the trauma injury is so severe.”
The new process provides cranioplasty implants that are much more precise, he says.
“We’re helping to address what can often be an emergency situation as close to the day when the patient comes in as possible,” he said.
“Implants are … starting to be patient-specific. Rather than fitting the patients to the implant, we’re basically taking the patient’s scans and customising the implant to the patient.”
The new method uses a patient’s CT scan to create the replacement part in a 3D printer which is then moulded with a material called bone cement.
The replacements are completely sterile and can even be moulded with an antibiotic to fight infection.
Following this trial’s success, the researchers will now work to regenerate bone and cartilage using 3D printing.
PhD student Jeremy Kwarcinski was part of the research team and sees it as a new pathway for regenerative medicine.
“The potential exists well beyond just the skull and noses and cheek implants – and potentially in the future collar bones and other aspects of the body are quite feasible,” Mr Kwarcinski said.
“You could potentially print replacements for a whole body.”