A 54-year-old woman from Luoyang, China had been implanted the world’s first 3D printed titanium sternum.
After having suffered from chest pain, Ms. Gu consulted a doctor who then diagnosed her with a large tumour in her sternum. Doctors concluded that it would be the best solution to remove the sternum completely. However, this would leave her heart exposed, not being sufficiently protected within the chest.
At Tang Du Hospital of the Forth Military Medical University, doctors, among them Professor Wang Xiaoping, came up with the idea to replace the sternum with an exact 3D printed titanium replica. Yet, there was a hurdle the team of doctors and surgeons had to overcome, as the patient’s tumour had severely deformed her sternum and not sufficient 3D data could be captured. So they decided to collect data of women the same hight and weight, which was then combined with the data retrieved from Ms. Gu. This enabled them to create a 3D model which allowed for 3D printing the titanium sternum.
The successful implant surgery of the sternum ultimately took place at the end of June. Ms. Gu is in good health and doctors are absolutely pleased with the results.
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