JIPMER doctors to use 3D printers to fix skull deformities
A team of Indian plastic surgeons hopes to soon operate on and restore to its original shape the deformed skull of a three-year-old girl
Leslie D’Monte August 23, 2014
JIPMER doctors to use 3D printers to fix skull deformities
Doctors will have access to an exact sterilized replica of the child’s skull made on a 3D printer which will ensure that not many things are left to chance on the operating table.
A team of Indian plastic surgeons hopes to soon operate on and restore to its original shape the deformed skull of a three-year-old girl—with a bit of help from a three-dimensional (3D) printer.
The child suffers from craniosynostosis, a condition in which joints between skull bones fuse in an abnormal sequence to alter the normal shape of the skull, restricting brain growth, affecting the sense of smell, and in extreme cases, affecting the nerves or even leading to mental retardation. The operation will be performed by surgeons at the Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education and Research (JIPMER) in Puducherry. “We would have completed the operation by now, but the girl has contracted a respiratory infection, because of which we cannot give her anaesthesia,” explained Dinesh Kumar S., associate professor at JIPMER, who will be leading the team.
Typically, plastic surgeons rely on two-dimensional (2D) images to restore the face or skull. “This implies that we have to do most of the visualization in the mind, which takes a lot of experience,” said Kumar.
This time, though, Kumar and his team will have access to an exact sterilized replica of the child’s skull made on a 3D printer. “The replica will ensure that not many things are left to chance on the operating table. With the replica of the child’s skull, we know where the holes in the skull are, and it will help us cut the bones with precision to get optimal results,” said Kumar.
To get the replica of the child’s skull, Kumar had to convert the CT (computed tomography) scan data into a 3D file and send it to a Mumbai-based 3D printer maker, Divide By Zero Technologies. “We used our Accucraft i250+ 3D printer to extract the replica,” said Swapnil Sansare, chief executive of Divide By Zero. “It took us nine hours to print the skull.”
The 28-year-old entrepreneur manufactures the 3D printers that sell for anywhere between Rs.90,000 and Rs.1.4 lakh. He pointed out that since most 3D printers in India use thermoplastic as the input material, “the layers remain visible”. Sansare plans to use selective laser sintering (SLS) 3D printers.
SLS is an additive manufacturing technique that uses a laser as the power source to sinter powdered material, which is typically metal. Sintering is the process of forming a solid mass of material by heat and pressure, without fully melting the material.
http://www.livemint.com/Politics/Zj...use-3D-printers-to-fix-skull-deformities.html
A team of Indian plastic surgeons hopes to soon operate on and restore to its original shape the deformed skull of a three-year-old girl
Leslie D’Monte August 23, 2014
JIPMER doctors to use 3D printers to fix skull deformities
Doctors will have access to an exact sterilized replica of the child’s skull made on a 3D printer which will ensure that not many things are left to chance on the operating table.
A team of Indian plastic surgeons hopes to soon operate on and restore to its original shape the deformed skull of a three-year-old girl—with a bit of help from a three-dimensional (3D) printer.
The child suffers from craniosynostosis, a condition in which joints between skull bones fuse in an abnormal sequence to alter the normal shape of the skull, restricting brain growth, affecting the sense of smell, and in extreme cases, affecting the nerves or even leading to mental retardation. The operation will be performed by surgeons at the Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education and Research (JIPMER) in Puducherry. “We would have completed the operation by now, but the girl has contracted a respiratory infection, because of which we cannot give her anaesthesia,” explained Dinesh Kumar S., associate professor at JIPMER, who will be leading the team.
Typically, plastic surgeons rely on two-dimensional (2D) images to restore the face or skull. “This implies that we have to do most of the visualization in the mind, which takes a lot of experience,” said Kumar.
This time, though, Kumar and his team will have access to an exact sterilized replica of the child’s skull made on a 3D printer. “The replica will ensure that not many things are left to chance on the operating table. With the replica of the child’s skull, we know where the holes in the skull are, and it will help us cut the bones with precision to get optimal results,” said Kumar.
To get the replica of the child’s skull, Kumar had to convert the CT (computed tomography) scan data into a 3D file and send it to a Mumbai-based 3D printer maker, Divide By Zero Technologies. “We used our Accucraft i250+ 3D printer to extract the replica,” said Swapnil Sansare, chief executive of Divide By Zero. “It took us nine hours to print the skull.”
The 28-year-old entrepreneur manufactures the 3D printers that sell for anywhere between Rs.90,000 and Rs.1.4 lakh. He pointed out that since most 3D printers in India use thermoplastic as the input material, “the layers remain visible”. Sansare plans to use selective laser sintering (SLS) 3D printers.
SLS is an additive manufacturing technique that uses a laser as the power source to sinter powdered material, which is typically metal. Sintering is the process of forming a solid mass of material by heat and pressure, without fully melting the material.
http://www.livemint.com/Politics/Zj...use-3D-printers-to-fix-skull-deformities.html
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