PEEK skull plate - example 47
In cranial repair surgery, PEEK skull plates can be customized to fit the skull defect closely, improving the success rate and repair of the surgery.
Cranial repair implants: PEEK skull plates
Causes of skull defects
In our daily lives, we rarely pay attention to the importance of the skull, but when there is a defect in the skull, the impact can be significant. Skull defect is a common sequelae of head injury, and its causes are complex and diverse.
Trauma is one of the leading causes of skull defects. In the event of a traffic accident, work-related accident, violent attack and other sudden situations, the head is hit violently, and the skull is easily fractured or even shattered, resulting in skull defects. For example, in a tragic traffic accident, the huge impact of a high-speed collision can directly affect the driver's head, causing extensive damage to the skull. In patients with head injury due to trauma, there are varying degrees of skull defects.
In addition to trauma, surgery is a common factor in skull defects. In the treatment of some brain diseases, such as brain tumor resection surgery, craniotomy and decompression surgery for cerebral hemorrhage, doctors sometimes have to remove part of the skull in order to save the patient's life, reduce intracranial pressure, or completely remove the diseased tissue. For example, if the tumor is located in a special location and is closely connected to the skull, it may be necessary to remove part of the skull in order to remove the tumor completely. In patients who undergo this type of surgery, there is a problem of residual skull defects.
Impact of skull defects
Skull defects have a serious impact on the patient's body, both physically and psychologically. The brain has lost the effective protection of the skull, and in daily life, even a slight external collision may cause direct damage to the brain tissue, causing serious consequences such as intracranial hemorrhage and cerebral contusion and laceration, endangering the patient's life. In addition, skull defects can affect the balance of intracranial pressure and the normal circulation of cerebrospinal fluid, leading to a range of neurological symptoms. Many patients experience frequent headaches and dizziness, especially when they change position, activity, or mood swings, which are significantly worsened. Some patients also have cognitive dysfunction such as memory loss, poor concentration, and unresponsiveness, which seriously affects the ability to live and work.
Development of cranial repair materials
In the early days, plexiglass was widely used in cranial repair surgery. It has a certain hardness and plasticity, which can restore the shape of the skull to a certain extent, providing basic protection for patients. However, the disadvantages of plexiglass are also very obvious, its thermal conductivity is strong, in the hot summer, under the sun, the patient's head will have an obvious burning sensation, just like a piece of glass that is baked by the sun, this discomfort seriously affects the quality of life of the patient. Moreover, plexiglass has poor histocompatibility, and after being implanted into the human body as a foreign body, it is easy to trigger the body's immune rejection, resulting in slow wound healing, infection and other complications, which brings great pain to patients. With the development of medical technology, plexiglass gradually cannot meet the clinical needs and is gradually eliminated from the stage of cranial repair materials.
Subsequently, bone cement appeared on the stage of history as a material for skull restoration. Bone cement is a highly malleable biomaterial, and its biggest advantage is that it is easy to operate and fast curing speed. During the operation, the surgeon can quickly fill and shape the bone cement according to the shape and size of the skull defect, which can restore the shape of the skull in a short time, saving a lot of time for the operation. However, the strength of bone cement is relatively limited, and the long-term stability is not good, and in daily life, a slight external impact may cause rupture and deformation, which cannot provide long-lasting and reliable protection for the brain. Moreover, bone cement also has a certain risk of rejection and infection, which limits its wide application in the field of cranial repair.
With the development of metal material science, titanium alloy mesh has become the new favorite of skull repair. Titanium alloy has good histocompatibility, can reduce the rejection of the body to a certain extent, its strength is high, and can provide more reliable protection for brain tissue. At the same time, the processing and shaping of titanium alloy mesh is relatively easy, and doctors can customize it according to the specific shape of the patient's skull defect, which greatly improves the accuracy and effect of repair. For a long time in the past, titanium alloy mesh has been widely used in clinical practice. But titanium mesh is not perfect, it is made of metal after all, and it is always a foreign body for the skull, and there is a certain risk of rejection and infection. Moreover, the weight of titanium alloy mesh is relatively heavy, and wearing it for a long time may cause discomfort to the patient and may even lead to skull displacement. In addition, when performing medical examinations such as MRI and CT, titanium alloy mesh will produce metal artifacts, which will seriously interfere with the examination results and affect the doctor's accurate judgment of the patient's condition.
It is in the process of continuous improvement and innovation of traditional cranial repair materials that PEEK skull plate came into being, which brings a new dawn to the field of cranial repair with its excellent performance and opens a new era of cranial repair.
3D Printed PEEK Skull Plate - Example 47
Introduction to PEEK materials
PEEK, also known as polyetheretherketone, is a special polymer material with excellent performance, from the perspective of physical properties, PEEK's high temperature resistance is very outstanding, its melting point is as high as 343 °C, and the long-term use temperature can reach 260 °C, which makes it still maintain stable performance in a high-temperature environment and will not be easily deformed or damaged. In the aerospace industry, PEEK is widely used in the manufacture of components around engines that need to withstand extremely high temperatures to ensure that they can function properly in high temperature environments. Moreover, the mechanical strength of PEEK is also quite high, with a tensile strength of up to 132 - 148MPa, which means that it can withstand large external forces without breaking, and has good impact and fatigue resistance. In automobile manufacturing, PEEK materials are also used in some parts that need to withstand high loads, such as engine pistons and connecting rods, to improve the durability and reliability of parts.
In terms of chemical properties, PEEK has excellent chemical stability, has good resistance to most acids, alkalis, solvents and other chemicals, and is almost invulnerable to corrosion by these chemicals. In the chemical industry, many equipment needs to be exposed to various corrosive chemicals, and pipes, valves and other parts made of PEEK material can operate stably for a long time in such a harsh chemical environment, which greatly improves the service life and safety of the equipment. In addition, PEEK is also self-lubricating and has a low coefficient of friction, which makes it have excellent performance in some occasions that need to reduce friction, such as mechanical transmission parts, bearings, etc., which can effectively reduce energy loss and improve the operating efficiency of equipment.
Design customization
In cranial repair surgery, PEEK skull plates can be customized, which is a significant advantage over traditional prosthetic materials. The customization process relies heavily on advanced 3D printing and 3D reconstruction technologies.
First, the doctor will perform a high-precision CT scan of the head of the patient to obtain detailed data of the patient's skull defect site, which includes information on the shape, size, location and surrounding tissue structure of the skull, providing an accurate basis for subsequent customization work. A professional medical team then uses 3D reconstruction technology to transform the data from the CT scan into an intuitive 3D model. In this 3D model, the doctor can clearly observe the specific situation of the skull defect, as if the patient's skull is directly presented in front of the eyes, and can understand every detail in a comprehensive and detailed way.
Based on the 3D reconstruction model, the medical team will use professional design software to carefully design a PEEK skull plate model that perfectly matches the defect according to the original morphological and structural characteristics of the patient's skull. The design process takes into account individual patient differences, including the physiological curvature and thickness of the skull, as well as its connection to the surrounding tissues, to ensure that the PEEK skull plates are designed to not only accurately cover the skull defect area, but also integrate naturally with the surrounding skull for optimal restoration.
Once the design is complete, 3D printing technology begins to play a key role. Through a 3D printer, the PEEK material is stacked and solidified layer by layer according to the designed model, and finally the PEEK skull plate is completely consistent with the designed model. This 3D printing technology enables high-precision manufacturing with minimal tolerances, ensuring a high fit between the PEEK skull plate and the skull defect. In the actual operation, the tailor-made PEEK skull plate can be closely attached to the skull defect to achieve seamless docking, which greatly improves the success rate and repair effect of the operation.
Excellent performance
PEEK skull plates have demonstrated superior performance in the field of cranial restoration, offering significant advantages over traditional cranial repair materials.
When it comes to biocompatibility, PEEK material excels. It is non-toxic, non-irritating, has almost no adverse reactions to human tissues, and can live in harmony with human tissues. When PEEK skull plates are implanted into the body, they do not trigger immune rejection, which makes the recovery process smoother and reduces the chance of complications due to rejection. Moreover, the elastic modulus of PEEK material is similar to that of the human autologous skull, which means that it can distribute stress like the autologous skull when subjected to external forces, avoiding the potential damage to brain tissue caused by stress concentration, and providing a safer and more comfortable protective environment for the brain.
In terms of thermal insulation, the advantages of PEEK skull plates are also obvious. It has a very low thermal conductivity and can effectively block the conduction of outside temperature. In the hot summer, the high temperature from the outside world will not be transmitted to the skull as quickly as metal materials do, making the patient feel hot and uncomfortable in the head; In the cold winter, it can also prevent the head heat from being lost too quickly, avoid adverse effects on brain function due to temperature changes, and greatly improve the quality of life of patients.
For medical imaging examinations, PEEK skull plates have good compatibility. It has no interference with imaging tests such as X-rays, CTs, MRIs, etc., and does not produce metal artifacts. This allows the doctor to clearly and accurately observe the intracranial situation when the patient undergoes these examinations after surgery, and timely detect possible problems, providing a reliable basis for subsequent treatment and rehabilitation. However, traditional metal skull repair materials, such as titanium alloy mesh, will produce obvious artifacts during imaging examinations, which will seriously affect the doctor's judgment of the condition and may lead to misdiagnosis or missed diagnosis.
PEEK skull plates also have excellent resistance to blows. Its high strength and toughness allow it to withstand a certain degree of external impact, providing reliable protection for the brain. In everyday life, even if a patient accidentally receives a minor head bump, PEEK skull plates can effectively cushion external forces, reduce the risk of brain injury, and allow patients to live and work with greater peace of mind.