Cranioplasty prosthesis manufacturing based on reverse engineering technology

Abstract

SummaryBackgroundMost patients with large focal skull bone loss after craniectomy are referred for cranioplasty. Reverse engineering is a technology which creates a computer-aided design (CAD) model of a real structure. Rapid prototyping is a technology which produces physical objects from virtual CAD models. The aim of this study was to assess the clinical usefulness of these technologies in cranioplasty prosthesis manufacturing.Material/MethodsCT was performed on 19 patients with focal skull bone loss after craniectomy, using a dedicated protocol. A material model of skull deficit was produced using computer numerical control (CNC) milling, and individually pre-operatively adjusted polypropylene-polyester prosthesis was prepared. In a control group of 20 patients a prosthesis was manually adjusted to each patient by a neurosurgeon during surgery, without using CT-based reverse engineering/rapid prototyping. In each case, the prosthesis was implanted into the patient. The mean operating times in both groups were compared.ResultsIn the group of patients with reverse engineering/rapid prototyping-based cranioplasty, the mean operating time was shorter (120.3 min) compared to that in the control group (136.5 min). The neurosurgeons found the new technology particularly useful in more complicated bone deficits with different curvatures in various planes.ConclusionsReverse engineering and rapid prototyping may reduce the time needed for cranioplasty neurosurgery and improve the prosthesis fitting. Such technologies may utilize data obtained by commonly used spiral CT scanners. The manufacturing of individually adjusted prostheses should be commonly used in patients planned for cranioplasty with synthetic material.

Hybrid Modeling Methods of Cranial Implants

“…After generating the appropriate masks of the selected area on the bones of the skull layer and after removal of artifacts and performing segmentation we can create a 3D model of the skull first as a voxel model, and next as a STL mesh models. This process is reconstructive, like reverse engineering [5,6,12,23,25]. Exemplary STL model of human skull after neurosurgical procedure is shown in Fig.…”

Additive technologies in neurosurgery

“…Целью краниопластики также является и устранение косметической деформации. Для повышения точности создаваемых имплантатов широко используются современные АТ [9,38,[42][43][44][45]48]. По способу создания имплантата их можно разделить на непрямые (при этом методами 3D-печати создается оснастка, с помощью которой моделируется имплантат) и прямые (непосредственное «выращивание» готового имплантата) [46,47].…”

“…Первым этапом подготовки к печати трехмерного объекта является разработка его виртуальной модели [44,45]. На основании данных КТ головы создаются модели черепа и имплантата при помощи специального программного обеспечения [38,43,45,[48][49][50][51].…”

A preliminary study of the novel antibiotic-loaded cement computer-aided design-articulating spacer for the treatment of periprosthetic knee infection

“…In the last decade three-dimensional (3D) printing technology has been applied more frequently in orthopedic surgical techniques [9], such as reverse engineering [10], computer-aided design (CAD) [11], computer-aided manufacture (CAM) [12], and rapid prototyping [13]. It was speculated that the CAD technique may help optimize articulating spacers [5].…”