Reconstruction Strategy for Upper Extremity Defects After Bone Tumor Resection Based on 3D Customized Bone Cement...

Area of Science:

• Orthopedic Surgery
• Biomedical Engineering
• Oncology

Background:

• Reconstructing bone defects in the upper extremities is challenging.
• Bone tumor resection often leads to significant functional loss.
• Novel methods are needed for precise reconstruction of these defects.

Purpose of the Study:

• To describe a novel workflow for designing and manufacturing customized bone cement molds using 3D printing.
• To evaluate the efficacy of this technique in reconstructing upper extremity defects after bone tumor resection.

Main Methods:

• Acquired CT data from unaffected extremities to design patient-specific molds.
• Used 3D printing to create detachable molds for shaping bone cement prostheses.
• Retrospectively evaluated 14 patients with proximal humerus or distal radius defects, assessing demographic, radiological, and operative data, MSTS, and VAS scores.

Main Results:

• No metastasis or recurrence observed in a mean follow-up of 49.36 months.
• Low complication rates, with two cases of subluxation and one revision surgery for prosthetic fracture.
• Significant improvement in pain relief (VAS score decrease) and functional outcomes (MSTS score of 77.4%).

Conclusions:

• Customized 3D-printed molds offer a viable alternative for bone cement prosthesis reconstruction in the proximal humerus and distal radius.
• This approach ensures precise articular surface matching.
• The technique presents advantages of accurate reconstruction and potentially reduced costs.