Custom Made Cranial Implants Dissertation Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Custom Made Cranial Implants - Dissertation Example Other disadvantages of using autografting include donor site morbidity, tissue harvesting difficulties, and high chances of contagion to both the recipient and donor site. Moreover, such drawbacks include additional surgeries to ensure reabsorption of the graft and the availability of highly skilled surgeons to undertake the extensive procedure. Cranial injuries can be because of traumas, fractures, infections or degenerative diseases (Hallermann et al 10). Often, the bone layer remains expansively damaged to an extent that the tissues cannot regenerate and reintegrate to reinstate the patient’s appearance. This has thus prompted the use of cranial implants. Cranial implants are able to specifically adapt to the region of implantation, reduce the surgical time and reinstate the appearance of the patient. Scientists have developed preoperative techniques to enable the surgeons to plan effectively for the surgery and to prepare models for the cranial implants. Visualization techniques have remained greatly embraced to ensure that these preoperative measures are attained (Kozakiewicz et al 32). Computer-assisted design and computer-assisted manufacturing systems are the recent computational techniques that have made the visualization more effective (Kozakiewicz et al 34). Manufacture of the custom-made cranial implants can occur in a number of ways, for example, the use of 3D modeling, radiolucent or electron beam melting technology. They all aim at eliminating the constraints, which have been previously associated with cranial facial surgeries in the past years such as the internal structure, size, shape and mechanical properties of the patient (Schilickewei and Schilickewei et al 15). Cranial implants can be manufactured from a variety of alloplastic materials such as 2 titanium. The material used to make the implant determines its success and longevity of the surgery.