The girl was given a new skull, printed on a 3D printer



    A 22-year-old girl from the Netherlands with chronic bone disease - due to which her skull thickness increased by 1.5-5 cm, which caused visual impairment and headaches - successfully transplanted the upper part of the cranium, replacing it with a plastic implant printed on a 3D printer.

    The new organ is made of translucent plastic.



    The operation took 23 hours. She was conducted by a group of surgeons at the University Medical Center Utrecht. According to university representatives, this is the first case of a skull transplant in the world that has not been rejected by the body.

    Modern technology literally saved the girl's life. Her own skull was so thick that serious brain damage or death would be inevitable in the near future. In this case, it was not possible to fix the problem without organ transplantation.

    The implant is made to order from durable plastic, the name of which is not called. After the operation, the patient returned to vision, she does not show any symptoms of the disease and is fully functional.

    Specialists used to print skull fragments on a 3D printer , but for the first time they managed to transplant such a large implant.



    In the future, this technique is supposed to be used to replace other bones in the human body, as well as to reconstruct damaged fragments of the skull.

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