REAL LIFE NEWS: PIECES OF SKULL MADE WITH 3D PRINTER
by Hazed
Here’s another new use for 3D printing. A man is due to get an implant to replace 75% of his skull cap – and the prosthesis will be produced by a 3D printer.
It will be made out of poly-ether-ketone-ketone (PEKK) which the US Food and Drug Administration has just approved for use as a skull implant.
Normally, such prosthetics are made out of stainless steel or titanium. PEKK will have advantages over these metallic compounds: it is more flexible, more resistant to abrasion, and in terms of density and stiffness it is more similar to the bone it replaces.
Using 3D printing should make it easier to make the implant an exact match for the skull. By digitally scanning the patient’s skull to build a model, then printing out an exact match layer by layer, even the tiniest details can be reproduced. This could encourage the growth of cells and allow bone to attach to the implant more easily.
The company involved is called OPM, and its president Scott DeFelice says that up to 500 patients a month in the US could benefit from replacement skull bones produced in this way.
Source: http://www.dvice.com/2013-3-8/3d-printed-implant-replaces-75-percent-mans-skull
