Spain: 3D-printing has now become a very powerful tool in the stream of medicine be it organs, to prosthetic body parts. Now for the first time doctors in Spain have implanted a 3D- printed titanium sternum inside the ribs for a 54 year old cancer patient.
The man was effected by chest wall sarcoma, which is a cancerous tumor that grows around the chest wall. Some part of the man’s skeleton was removed to get the tumor completely out for which the doctors at Salamanca University Hospital turned to 3D printing to replace the missing part of the skeleton.
The sternum implant was created by the Australia’s Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO) and Anatomics, which is an Australian medical device company.
High-resolution CT scans of the man’s chest enabled Anatomics to design a twin for the patience missing sternum and rib-cage. Anatomics turned to CSIRDO, which has a specialized printing laboratory, to print these kinds of device.
According to the CSIRO blog, the 3D printed rib-cage was a better option by the surgeons. It’s been almost two weeks since the procedure and the patient is recovering well.
