First 3D Printed Partial Prosthesis of Sacrum Implanted

On 12^th June 2016 the first 3D printed partial prosthesis of a sacrum was successfully implanted. The surgery was planned accomplished in the Beijing in the QingHua ChangGeng hospital (China).

The patient, a father of two children, had just celebrated his 30th birthday, when a tumour was found on the end of his spinal column. It was quite big and has already grown onto the bone of the sacrum. Professor XiongHua Xiao, director of the department of orthopedics, led physicans Fei Song and Ji Zhao decided for a new method to help their patient. With thin layer 3D scans they created a model of the body area infested by the tumour. Then, they printed it and started planning the surgery.

The plan was to remove the tumour and the part of the bone that was damaged by the tumour. They had planned to implant a 3D printed metal prosthesis for the removed bone part. The operation started in the afternoon of the 11^th June 2016 and took 10 hours until 2 am of the 12^th June. But it was successful – the X-Ray images shows quit good where the 3D printed prosthesis was implanted.

So 3D printing has helped another patient and made a surgery possible that would not have been possible without this technique. 3D Printing was used for planning the surgery and it was used for the prosthesis. Looks like that it has worked pretty well.