HANDLE. A model created with the 3D printer of the patient’s jaw allows the maxillofacial surgery team of the Policlinico di Bari to reconstruct the bone structure more quickly and precisely in the operating room and reduce complications.
The latest case in which this technology was used involved a 49-year-old patient suffering from jaw carcinoma, an extremely aggressive malignant tumor that had caused significant bone erosion in humans.
The surgical treatment involves the resection of the portion of the jaw affected by the disease and the subsequent reconstruction with a bone transplant taken from the same patient (in this case from the fibula) and carried out with microsurgical techniques.
“These interventions – explains Dr. Alfonso Manfuso, medical director of the maxillofacial operational unit – can last from 7 to 12 hours, improving the speed and precision of the reconstructive phase significantly reduces the times and any complications and ischemic problems in the transplanted tissue. The last operation lasted 7 hours, the patient is well and has been started on the rehabilitation phase.” HANDLE.
