A Chinese girl aged 3 received the world's premiere in skull reconstruction surgery using the new 3D printing technology. The girl will went through a surgical operation in China for 17 hours at the Second People's Hospital of Hunan Province.
Han Han has been suffering from a rare medical condition that made her skull to grow four times the normal size. The surgical procedure that involved using a 3D skull reconstruction by 3D printing of a titanium skull was defined by the Chinese medical team as a "whole brain shrinking plastic surgery". Her brain was repositioned in the 3D printed titanium skull.
The advancements in 3D printing technology found already many applications in health care. The first 3D printed medical devices were hearing aids. Since then bone replacements and 3D implants have become common. Soon, 3D printed human tissue will become reality.
Surgeons used a CT scanner and 3D data in order to create 3D printing models for three titanium mesh skull implants. The implants replaced the girl's entire top portion of her skull. The world's premiere in 3D printer skull reconstruction surgery ended with a full success of the Chinese medical team.
Han Han was transferred for recovery to the Intensive Care Unit. It is expected that the titanium implants will become surrounded by her skull bones as the girl continue to grow. The medical prognosis for Han Han is now a full recovery.
Dr. Bo, from the Second People's Hospital, reported that the surgery was a complicated procedure, since the girl's brain was filled 80 percent with water. If Han Han wouldn't have been sent to hospital in time from treatment she had no chances to survive the summer.
Because the brain wound area was very large, the surgical procedure started by eliminating the infection in toddler's brain. The medical team had to perform skin graft surgery and insert a shunt in order to remove the fluid from the girl's brain and eliminate the infection.
Han Has was diagnoses at the age of 6 months with congenital hydrocephalus. According to the National Institute of Stroke and Neurological Disorders, congenital hydrocephalus is a certain type of anomaly that may appear at birth and can be caused by genetic abnormalities or by events occurring during fetal development.
Typically, the cerebrospinal fluid surrounds the spinal cord and the brain in congenital hydrocephalus. Such excessive accumulation of cerebrospinal fluid leads to abnormal widening of ventricles in the brain and creates harmful pressure on the brain tissues.
The most notable symptom of hydrocephalus in infancy is an abnormal large head size due to rapid increase in head circumference. For the Chinese girl, her head came to weight more than half her body weight due to the pressure of the excess fluid on the brain.
Han Han struggled to go out of bed and even to lift her head from the pillow, according to reports. As consequence of her congenital hydrocephalus the girl also developed medical problems, such as poor blood supply and a thinning skull. Her family was prompted to take immediate action.
