Cancer Patient Fitted With Titanium 3D Printed Ribs
A 54-year-old man suffering from chest wall sarcoma had become the first cancer patient to receive a surgically implanted set of titanium 3D printed ribs and sternum. Chest wall sarcoma is a tumor that grows around the rib cage, and the patient needed to have the affected ribs and sternum replaced.
The use of prosthetics wasn’t an option because of the unique construction of each person’s bone structure. The use of a 3D implant was deemed to be a far better choice because a fully customized set of ribs and sternum could be designed with extreme precision.
Data from CT scans of the patient’s ribs and sternum were used by Anatomics, an Australian company that specializes in supplying surgical implants, to precisely design a 3D CAD model of a set of titanium ribs and sternum that could replace the affected tumor site.
Anatomics teamed up with CSIRO’s 3D printing facility to use its $1.3 million Arcam electron beam metal printer to print a titanium model from its 3D CAD model. The ends of the titanium ribs were designed with attachments that fit over the ends of the remaining healthy ribs, and are secured to the bones with screws.
The titanium model was shipped of to the surgeons after its completion and was successfully implanted in the patient. CSIRO reported that nearly two weeks after the surgical procedure was completed the patient was well and was recovering nicely.
