Patient Specific Implants (PSI): Cranioplasty in the Neurosurgical Clinical Routine

Abstract

Implants are an important instrument in modern medicine for providing patients with a higher quality of life after accident- or disease-related functional limitations. In cranial neurosurgery, reconstructive implants are primarily used to restore normal skull function and anatomical integrity after severe head trauma, resection of bone affecting tumors, or bone loss due to infection or spontaneous postoperative bone flap resorption. Patient specific implants (PSI) are custom-made implants manufactured to each patient’s individual anatomical specifications, and the advent of new manufacturing techniques and materials opens the opportunity for a closer integration into the clinical routine. The following contribution aims at giving non-medical participants of the AutoImplant challenge some insight into the neurosurgical perspective on when cranial implants are needed, what the surgical procedures are, what cranioplasty methods currently are available, what criteria should be met by the implants, and where the limitations of the current manufacturing solutions lie.