Abstract
Recent advancements in medical imaging, virtual surgical planning (VSP), and three-dimensional (3D) printing have potentially changed how today’s craniomaxillofacial surgeons use patient information for customized treatments. Over the years, polyetheretherketone (PEEK) has emerged as the biomaterial of choice to reconstruct craniofacial defects. With advancements in additive manufacturing (AM) systems, prospects for the point-of-care (POC) 3D printing of PEEK patient-specific implants (PSIs) have emerged. Consequently, investigating the clinical reliability of POC-manufactured PEEK implants has become a necessary endeavor. Therefore, this paper aims to provide a quantitative assessment of POC-manufactured, 3D-printed PEEK PSIs for cranial reconstruction through characterization of the geometrical, morphological, and biomechanical aspects of the in-hospital 3D-printed PEEK cranial implants. The study results revealed that the printed customized cranial implants had high dimensional accuracy and repeatability, displaying clinically acceptable morphologic similarity concerning fit and contours continuity. From a biomechanical standpoint, it was noticed that the tested implants had variable peak load values with discrete fracture patterns and failed at a mean (SD) peak load of 798.38 ± 211.45 N. In conclusion, the results of this preclinical study are in line with cranial implant expectations; however, specific attributes have scope for further improvements.
Highlights
PEEK has emerged as the biomaterial of choice to reconstruct craniOver the years, PEEK has emerged asisthe biomaterial of choice to reconstruct cranioofacial defects
Facial defects [7,17,34,35,36,37]; little is known about fused filament fabrication (FFF) 3D-printed PEEK implants
Few studies have evaluated the accuracy of cranial reconstruction with Patient-specific implants (PSIs) limited
Summary
Cranioplasty is a surgical reconstructive procedure that re-establishes the physiological functions of the neurocranium and restores the structural integrity of cranial defects [1,2]. Additive manufacturing (AM) or three-dimensional (3D) printing have become ways of aptly reconstructing the patient’s affected surgical anatomy with patient-matched implants [11,12,13,14]. Patient-specific implants (PSIs), in general, are driven by the imperative need of surgeons to treat complicated reconstructive cases that demand a unique patientspecific approach [15,16,17]. The potential use of 3D printing in these realms as a source of customizable PSIs that matches each patient’s unique anatomy has piqued great interest among surgeons
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