To make a good framework for filling in missing bone, mix at least 30% pulverized natural bone with some special human-made plastic and create the needed shape with a 3D printer. That’s the recipe for success reported by researchers at The Johns Hopkins University. Each year birth defects, trauma or surgery leave an estimated 200,000 people in need of replacement bones in the head or face. Historically, the best treatment required surgeons to remove part of a patient’s fibula (a leg bone that doesn’t bear much weight), cut it into the general shape needed and implant it in the right location. But the procedure not only creates leg trauma but also falls short because the relatively straight fibula can’t be shaped to fit the subtle curves of the face very well.
Three-Dimensional Printing of...
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