BENGALURU: 3D printing is now used extensively right from a small object to even printing a house. City-based Vasavi hospital used the technology to print a skull. Kishore (26), a civil engineer was on his way to work on the September 18, on Kolar highway. Around 1.30 pm, a dog came in front of his bike and he crashed his two-wheeler. He was in a hospital at Kolar. The doctors referred him to Vasavi hospital here.
Dr Ramesh Ranganathan, consultant neurosurgeon at Vasavai Hospital, said, “His eye-socket was fractured. The fracture of these bones resulted in the eye dropping down, which in turn led to a condition called diplopia — a condition where two images of an object are seen. The usual line of treatment in such a condition involves placing implants (screws and plates) at the fractured site and closing the wound, allowing the body to heal.”
Instead, Dr Aditya Moorthy, consultant maxillofacial surgeon, thought of 3D printing for this case so as to avoid leaving any scar on his face. The 3D CT scan of the patient was taken and it was printed to obtain the exact replica of Kishore’s skull. The doctors then placed the adapted implant (titanium mesh) to the fractured site, which was damaged. He is now perfectly fine.