patient specific parts
Overcoming previous limitations to improve patient outcome
Queen’s Medical Centre in Nottingham have successfully used a customised titanium mandibular implant.
“Metal AM offers surgeons the ability to truly customise implants and make them solely patient specific” Jason Watson, Consultant Maxillofacial Prosthetist Healthcare Scientist
A patient at Queen’s Medical Centre in Nottingham had significant facial asymmetry leading to functional problems and aesthetic issues. The surgical team wanted to improve both areas and looked to produce an implant (alloplastic facial implant). In the past, a number of materials and techniques have been used for such implants, however all have limitations.
The Consultant Maxillofacial Prosthetist Healthcare Scientist, Jason Watson, was aware of the benefits of Metal Additive Manufacturing (AM) for the production of customised implants and discussed the options with Consultant Maxillofacial Surgeon Dilip Srinivasan. Both agreed that a titanium metal AM implant could overcome some of the problems associated with existing implant materials (including extrusion, migration, foreign body reaction and infection) whilst giving a superior aesthetic outcome.
Speaking about the technology, QMC’s Jason Watson said “Metal Additive Manufacturing is one of those technologies that offer surgeons the ability to truly customise implants and make them solely patient specific. Working in partnership with 3T-am, we have demonstrated that the future is not mass manufactured cheaper parts but cost-effective, custom made parts. Metal AM allows total customisation from physical shape to physical properties to match the surrounding bone”.
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Metal AM offers surgeons the ability to truly customise implants and make them solely patient specific”
