[Music plays, CSIRO logo appears on bottom right hand corner of screen, and text appears on screen: Cancer patient receives 3D printed ribs in world first surgery]
[Image changes to show various 3D printed objects]
[Image changes to show a building with a sign: CSIRO Australia]
[Image changes to show Alex Kingsbury and text appears on screen: Alex Kingsbury, Additive manufacturing research leader, CSIRO]
Alex Kingsbury: CSIRO, in conjunction with Anatomics, has developed a sternum implant for a patient suffering from cancer.
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It involved a very complex world first procedure. Anatomics contacted CSIRO.
[Image changes back to Alex Kingsbury]
We have access to an electron beam metal printer, which means it’s a really high quality implant.
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And we also have the experience of having done these types of jobs before.
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[Image changes back to Alex Kingsbury]
So 3D printing works by inputting a 3D digital CAD file into a computer, and then that computer talks to the machine.
[Image changes to show a man operating the printer]
[Image changes back to Alex Kingsbury]
The machine puts down layer upon layer of material, and each layer is fused.
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So as each layer is fused you then start to build up a product as your layers increase.
[Image changes back to Alex Kingsbury]
And Anatomics and the surgeon worked together quite closely.
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[Image changes back to Alex Kingsbury]
The way that they came up with a design was to have these pieces that went over the bone, and then you could screw through the bone.
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So it’s attached really securely.
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The reason that 3D printing was desired for making this implant was because it needed to be customised exactly to suit the patient.
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[Image changes back to Alex Kingsbury]
No human body is the same, so therefore every implant is going to be different. So this is the sternum here.
[Image changes as the camera zooms to show the 3D printed implant held by Alex Kingsbury]
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This here is mimicking the ribcage, and these pieces here are what attach on to the ends of the bone.
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To get to this implant design Anatomics used the patient’s scan data.
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[Image changes back to Alex Kingsbury]
And that meant that they were able to make an implant design that exactly matched the patient’s anatomy.
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It would be an incredibly complex piece to manufacture traditionally, and in fact, you know, almost impossible.
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Australia has a really fabulous skills base in biotech and biomedical manufacturing.
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3D printing is set to really take advantage of that skills base.
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[Image changes back to Alex Kingsbury]
Internationally we’re now becoming very well known for our expertise in 3D printing for biomedical applications.
[CSIRO logo appears with text: Big ideas start here www.csiro.au]
Suffering from a chest wall sarcoma (a type of tumour that grows in and around the rib cage), the 54-year-old man needed his sternum and a portion of his rib cage replaced.
This part of the chest is notoriously tricky to recreate with prosthetics, due to the complex geometry and intricate structures involved. So the patient’s surgical team from Salamanca University Hospital determined that a fully customisable 3D printed sternum and rib cage was the best option.
That’s when they turned to Melbourne-based medical device company Anatomics, who designed and manufactured the implant utilising CSIRO’s 3D printing facility, Lab 22.
Once the prosthesis was complete it was couriered to Spain and implanted into the patient. Twelve days after the surgery the patient was discharged and has recovered well.
Read the full media release from the Minister for Industry and Science Ian Macfarlane: Cancer patient receives 3D printed ribs in world first surgery.
