Hieu L C, Vander Sloten J, Bohez E, Phien H N, Vatcharaporn E, An P V, To N C, Binh P H
Cardiff School of Engineering, Cardiff University, Wales, UK.
Technol Health Care. 2004;12(3):281-92.
Skull defects are treated by cranioplasty techniques, which are required to protect underlying brain, correct major aesthetic deformities, or both. This research is a part of our research project in ASEAN countries to investigate (i) the methods for design and manufacturing of cranioplasty implants, and (ii) the feasible technical solutions of minimizing the implant cost based on available production and biomaterial technologies in the region. In this paper, solutions for design and manufacturing of standardized implant templates (SDT) are presented. SDT are made based on the reverse engineering and rapid tooling techniques. With the use of SDT, surgeons have flexible options in preparing the implant both pre and intra operatively, and the operation time is minimized. In addition, the skills required to prepare an implant from SDT are not highly required. The cost for cranioplasty treatments by using SDT is acceptable for ASEAN region.
