Lisa Isaacs
WITH the technology of a 3D printer, some of the most extensive craniofacial surgery in the country has been performed at Tygerberg Hospital, changing the lives of two young girls.
A team of doctors including Professor Frank Graewe, the micro-surgeon who was part of the group who performed the world's first successful penile transplant, and experts from the World Craniofacial Foundation and Smile Foundation SA, worked on the girls' surgeries. Advanced 3D-printing technology was used to create bioengineered bone. They are recovering well, said Graewe.
Graewe said the team took images of the patients’ skulls, sent them to the US, where models were made using the printer. A framework was then created with resolvable mesh made of lactic acid.
“Under the framework, we used demineralised bone and bone morphogenetic proteins which activate the bone-regeneration process.”
One of the girls, a 7-year-old from Zambia, was born with no bone separating her brain from her oral cavity.
Last year she received craniofacial surgery that resulted in a severe post-operative infection, leaving her with a serious skull defect which would have forced her to wear a helmet and protective gear for the rest of her life.
The other patient, a 6-year-old from Nigeria, suffers from Crouzon syndrome, a genetic disorder characterised by the premature fusion of the skull bones and cranial base. The surgery was necessary to improve an upper-airway respiratory obstruction.
Derek Bruce, a paediatric neurosurgeon from Washington who assisted, said: “We need to push the limits and boundaries of technological advancements to ensure that patients with these types of defects have the best possibility of leading a normal life.”