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Updated: Feb 27, 2026
3D Planning and Printing of Patient Specific Implants for Reconstruction of Bony Defects
Published on: August 4, 2020
Customized acrylic implants for reconstruction of extensive skull defects: an exception approach for selected
Rafael Denadai Pigozzi DA Silva1, Cesar Augusto Raposo-Amaral1, Marcelo Campos Guidi1
1- SOBRAPAR Hospital, Institute of Craniofacial Plastic Surgery, Campinas, Sao Paulo State, Brazil.
Objective:
to present our experience in the surgical treatment of extensive skullcap defects with customized acrylic implants.
Methods:
we conducted a retrospective analysis of patients with extensive skull defects undergoing acrylic cranioplasties between 2004 and 2013. We carefully selected all patients and classified surgical results based on three scales (craniofacial esthetics, improvement of facial symmetry and need for additional surgery).
Results:
fifteen patients underwent cranioplasty with intraoperative acrylic implants, whether manually customized (46.67%) or made with prototyped three-dimensional biomodels (53.33%). There were two (13.33%) complications (one infection with implant withdrawal and one seroma). We considered the craniofacial aesthetics excellent (50%), the degree of improvement of craniofacial symmetry satisfactory (57.14%), and the overall mean of surgical results according to the need for new surgeries was 1.5±0.52.
Conclusion:
cranioplasties of patients with extensive skullcap defects should obey careful and predetermined criteria, both for selection and for the acrylic implant customization method.
