NIT, SKIMS develop first patient-specific cranial prosthesis of titanium mesh

Srinagar, July 13: Researcher teams from the National Institute of Technology (NIT) Srinagar and Sher-i-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences (SKIMS) Soura have jointly developed the first patient-specific cranial prosthesis of titanium mesh that will reduce 15 minutes of surgery time.

Professionals from Mechanical Engineering Department NIT Srinagar and SKIMS Soura worked to develop the first patient-specific cranial prosthesis of titanium mesh. They have used available CAD/CAM, Computer-Aided Design and Computer-Aided Manufacturing facilities at NIT Srinagar.

   

In his message, Director NIT Srinagar, Prof. (Dr.) Rakesh Sehgal extended a greeting to all the members and stated that the institute will always take lead in innovations that will benefit the common masses.

Institute’s Registrar, Prof. Syed Kaiser Bukhari appreciated the team members for developing the first patient-specific cranial prosthesis of titanium mesh and equipment will be highly beneficial for the patients.

Prof. Bukhari said research and innovation are critical for generating new knowledge, building new infrastructure, and educating innovators and entrepreneurs.

The joint team includes Prof. Abrar Ahad Wani, Prof. Altaf Umer Ramzan, of SKIMS, Prof. Rakesh Sehgal, Director NIT Srinagar, Dr. Sheikh Ghulam Mohammad Ex-Associate Professor, Prof. Sheikh Nazir Ahmed, Prof. Mohammed Farooq Wani, Dr. Mohammad Mursaleen and Ph.D. Scholar Imran Ali.

The patient-specific cranial prosthesis of titanium mesh will reduce 15 minutes of surgery time and was finally successfully implanted in a patient on July 1 at SKIMS, Soura. In the project, anatomy was engineered by taking patients’ CT scan data as an input, 3D model was developed using MIMICS software and, the prosthesis was designed using 3-Matic software.

The prototype was manufactured on the state-of-the-art computer-controlled Fused Deposition Modeling, (FDM) machine-Fortus 450mc, Stratasys USA in the mechanical engineering department.

As per the team, the commercially available titanium mesh, Medical Grade 1 was bent on the developed skull prototype made of ABS-M30i to restore the anatomical features of the patient’s head who had met an accident a few months before in Kashmir. “Intra-operative surgery time was reduced to approx 15 minutes for a defect of size 36 sq. cm2, approximately as the titanium shearing operation traditionally performed by the neurosurgeon was done well before the surgery,” the team said.

They said the new equipment will reduce 15 minutes of surgery time helped in saving considerable blood loss during the surgery. The titanium mesh prosthesis was verified by the neurosurgeon after autoclaving, before implantation.

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