Nov.2, 2014
A cross-functional team of veterinary surgeons, orthopaedic surgeons, and biomedical engineers who worked thousands of miles apart, has created a custom patella implant for a dog in need of a new knee cap in 4 days.
Three years ago, Oreo, a 6 year-old Canadian dog, suffered a dislocated left hind knee cap (patella). The patella was removed to relieve the pain but the dog was lame after the surgery.
Oreo's veterinarian contacted the Orthopaedic Innovation Centre (OIC) in Winnipeg, a research and testing facility that serves the medical device market, about the possibility of creating a customized implant for Oreo. To help Oreo, a team of veterinary surgeons, orthopaedic surgeons, and biomedical engineers worked together to find a solution. The OIC regularly uses 3D printing as a means of shortening the design and production cycles for its clients and they saw this as an excellent solution for Oreo: to use the latest design technologies and fused deposition modeling (FDM) 3D printing technology to produce a patella implant that is custom tailored to the dog's femur and quadriceps.
The OIC created a scaled digitized model of a donated patella and then converted the file into a CAD model. X-ray radiographs of Oreo's other patella were then used to modify the CAD design to ensure that the new implant would match his femur.
OIC then 3D printed an artificial patella using its Stratasys Fortus 400mc 3D Production System. The piece were printed in bio-compatible polycarbonate which is safe for the body. Before the surgery, engineers also performed physical testing on the implant to validate its ability to provide the necessary mechanical strength. The sterilized piece were then attached to the tendon and quadriceps using polypropylene sutures.
Left: a CAD model of the 3D Printed patella. Right: 3D printed patella before surgical insertion.
"In Oreo's case, we were able to produce a custom-tailored implant in only four days including design, analysis, physical testing and manufacturing," said Martin Petrak, president of Orthopaedic Innovation Centre. " As we move down the learning curve, it will probably be possible to produce similar implants in only a day or two."
Eight weeks after his surgery, Oreo could once again go on long walks and jump using both of his limbs. Now, three years later, Oreo is still enjoying an active life thanks to the FDM 3D printing technology.
"FDM is an ideal 3D printing technology for implant manufacturing because it is capable of producing strong, durable, biocompatible parts with the right physical properties," Petrak said. "With FDM, we can tailor the implant to perfectly match the recipient's anatomy which has the potential to provide dramatic improvements in functionality and recovery time."
Posted in 3D Printing Applications
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