Technology: Computational design, Metal 3D printing, CAD, Segmentation
Date:
Case Presentation:
A 71-year-old female patient was recommended for a revised total knee replacement procedure due to the disintegration of the tibial bone. The use of a titanium implant was suggested to address the patient's condition effectively.
Challenges Faced:
The conventional solid implants posed certain challenges as they added unnecessary load to the affected area. To overcome this, a novel approach was required to design the implant in a manner that incorporated pores, similar to those found in natural human bones. This was crucial to facilitate bone growth and achieve successful implant integration, which would not have been possible using traditional methods.
Solution/Approach:
To address the aforementioned challenges, the patient's data was segmented using slicer software, resulting in a segmented mesh file. This file was subsequently imported into a computer-aided design (CAD) software. The mesh file was remodeled into a surface model for further manipulation.
Given the disintegration observed in the right tibia, the left leg was isolated and mirrored to match the right leg. In order to minimize any potential errors during surgery, three different iterations of the tibial cup were designed. Computational design principles of volumetric latticing were applied to incorporate a trabecular feature into the resulting models.
Once the desired iterations were achieved, the models were exported and prepared for metal 3D printing, ensuring the production of an implant with the desired characteristics.
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