Abstract
Autologous ear reconstruction is a surgical procedure which aims to restore the anatomy of the outer ear whenever there are malformations due to congenital defects (microtia) or as a result of trauma and burns. Reconstruction involves the cutting, carving, and modeling of a portion of costal cartilage harvested from the patient. The aesthetic results of the surgery are highly dependent on the manual skill of the surgeon, which therefore needs a wide range of surgical experience. Appropriate simulation and training tools are essential to acquire adequate familiarity with the procedure without compromising the patient’s aesthetic appearance. In such a context, the present work aims to create replicas of the costal cartilage that allow a realistic simulation of the surgery, thus taking into account important characteristics of the cartilage tissue such as the behavior to cut and suture, hardness, etc. The problem is approached with well-established Additive Manufacturing and Reverse Engineering techniques, which are increasingly being used in the medical field, addressing both the problem of identifying the most suitable materials and the possibility of providing medical personnel with simple interactive procedures for the fabrication of multilayer replicas, without the need to turn to expert CAD modelers.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Mussi, E., et al.: Current practice in preoperative virtual and physical simulation in neurosurgery. Bioengineering 7, 7 (2020)
Naddeo, F., Naddeo, A., Cappetti, N., Cataldo, E., Militio, R.: Novel procedure for designing and 3D printing a customized surgical template for arthrodesis surgery on the sacrum. Symmetry 10(8), 334 (2018)
Naddeo, F., Cataldo, E., Naddeo, A., Cappetti, N., Narciso, N.: An automatic and patient-specific algorithm to design the optimal insertion direction of pedicle screws for spine surgery templates. Med. Biol. Eng. Comput. 55, 1549–1562 (2017)
Petzold, R., Zeilhofer, H.F., Kalender, W.A.: Rapid prototyping technology in medicine—basics and applications. Comput. Med. Imaging Graph. 23, 277–284 (1999)
Nagata, S.: A new method of total reconstruction of the auricle for microtia. Plast. Reconstr. Surg. 92, 187–201 (1993)
Facchini, F., Morabito, A., Buonamici, F., Mussi, E., Servi, M., Volpe, Y.: Autologous ear reconstruction: towards a semiautomatic CAD-based procedure for 3D printable surgical guides. CAD Solutions, LLC, 1–5 (2020)
Firmin, F., Marchac, A.: A novel algorithm for autologous ear reconstruction. Semin. Plast. Surg. 25, 257–264 (2011)
Bose, S., Vahabzadeh, S., Bandyopadhyay, A.: Bone tissue engineering using 3D printing. Mater. Today 16, 496–504 (2013)
J750 Digital anatomy 3D printer for lifelike medical models, Stratasys. https://www.stratasys.com/3d-printers/j750-digital-anatomy
Pappa, A.K., Soleimani, S., Caballero, M., Halevi, A.E., van Aalst, J.A.: A pilot study comparing mechanical properties of tissue-engineered cartilages and various endogenous cartilages. Clin. Biomech. 50, 105–109 (2017)
Lau, A., Oyen, M.L., Kent, R.W., Murakami, D., Torigaki, T.: Indentation stiffness of aging human costal cartilage. Acta Biomater. 4, 97–103 (2008)
Gurjão Da Silva, A.P., Rios Rodriguez, J.E.: The alternative model of silicone for experimental simulation of suture of living tissue in the teaching of surgical technique. Acta cirurgica Bras. 34 (2019)
Replicator+ desktop 3D printer, MakerBot. https://www.makerbot.com/3d-printers/replicator/. Accessed Apr 2023
MakerBot PLA: rigid and glossy parts for quick and easy prototyping, MakerBot. https://www.makerbot.com/3d-printers/materials/method-pla/. Accessed April 2023
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2024 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this paper
Cite this paper
Servi, M., Mussi, E., Carfagni, M., McGreevy, K., Facchini, F. (2024). Manufacturing of Multilayer Replicas of Human Costal Cartilage for Realistic Medical Planning. In: Carfagni, M., Furferi, R., Di Stefano, P., Governi, L., Gherardini, F. (eds) Design Tools and Methods in Industrial Engineering III. ADM 2023. Lecture Notes in Mechanical Engineering. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-52075-4_16
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-52075-4_16
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-031-52074-7
Online ISBN: 978-3-031-52075-4
eBook Packages: EngineeringEngineering (R0)