Patient-Specific Bone Implants using Subtractive Rapid Prototyping

摘要

This research involves the development of rapid manufacturing for patient-specific bone implants using a Subtractive Rapid Prototyping process. The geometry of segmental defects in bone, resulting from traumatic injury or cancerous tumor resection, can be reverse-engineered from medical images (such as CT scans), and then accurate defect fillers can be automatically generated in advanced synthetic or otherwise bioactive/biocompatible materials. This paper presents a general process planning methodology that begins with CT imaging and results in the automatic generation of process plans for a subtractive RP system. This work uniquely enables the rapid manufacturing of implant fillers with several key characteristics including; suitable bio-compatible materials and custom surface characteristics on specified patches of the filler geometry. This work utilizes a PLY input file, instead of the more common STL, since color texture information can be utilized for advanced process planning depending on whether the surface is fracture, periosteal or articular in origin. The future impact of this work is the ability to create accurate filler geometries that improve initial fixation strength and stability through accurate mating geometry, fixation planning and inter-surface roughness conditions.