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Proof of Concept Study for the Design, Manufacturing, and Testing of a Patient-Specific Shape Memory Device for Treatment of Unicoronal Craniosynostosis.
- Source :
-
The Journal of craniofacial surgery [J Craniofac Surg] 2018 Jan; Vol. 29 (1), pp. 45-48. - Publication Year :
- 2018
-
Abstract
- Treatment of unicoronal craniosynostosis is a surgically challenging problem, due to the involvement of coronal suture and cranial base, with complex asymmetries of the calvarium and orbit. Several techniques for correction have been described, including surgical bony remodeling, early strip craniotomy with orthotic helmet remodeling and distraction. Current distraction devices provide unidirectional forces and have had very limited success. Nitinol is a shape memory alloy that can be programmed to the shape of a patient-specific anatomy by means of thermal treatment.In this work, a methodology to produce a nitinol patient-specific distractor is presented: computer tomography images of a 16-month-old patient with unicoronal craniosynostosis were processed to create a 3-dimensional model of his skull and define the ideal shape postsurgery. A mesh was produced from a nitinol sheet, formed to the ideal skull shape and heat treated to be malleable at room temperature. The mesh was afterward deformed to be attached to a rapid prototyped plastic skull, replica of the patient initial anatomy. The mesh/skull construct was placed in hot water to activate the mesh shape memory property: the deformed plastic skull was computed tomography scanned for comparison of its shape with the initial anatomy and with the desired shape, showing that the nitinol mesh had been able to distract the plastic skull to a shape close to the desired one.The shape-memory properties of nitinol allow for the design and production of patient-specific devices able to deliver complex, preprogrammable shape changes.
- Subjects :
- Cranial Sutures surgery
Humans
Infant
Male
Models, Anatomic
Orbit diagnostic imaging
Printing, Three-Dimensional
Proof of Concept Study
Skull Base diagnostic imaging
Tomography, X-Ray Computed
Alloys
Craniosynostoses surgery
Equipment Design methods
Osteogenesis, Distraction instrumentation
Surgical Mesh
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 1536-3732
- Volume :
- 29
- Issue :
- 1
- Database :
- MEDLINE
- Journal :
- The Journal of craniofacial surgery
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- 29040141
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1097/SCS.0000000000004025