Journal of Material Sciences & Engineering

The Benefit of 3D Printing in Medical Field: Example Frontal Defect Reconstruction

Abstract

Sekou Singare, Shenggui C and Nan Li

This study describes a methodology to design a custom-made cranial prosthesis for a patient who suffered injuries from road traffic accident. Computer based cranial defect reconstruction techniques is developed. The design approach was based on the 3D reconstruction of the skull of the patient, obtained by a CT scan. Then a reverse engineering (RE) method is used to reconstruct the defect prosthesis computer-aided design (CAD) model. Once the prosthesis CAD design was completed, the 3D models the skull and the prosthesis were transported into Rapid Prototyping (RP) machine to fabricate the physical model. Finally, the RP model is directly used to produce the biomaterial calcium phosphate cement (CPC) prosthesis. The prosthesis was successfully implanted and a satisfactory result was obtained by using this design method.