Related Experiment Video
Updated: Feb 27, 2026
08:15
3D Planning and Printing of Patient Specific Implants for Reconstruction of Bony Defects
Published on: August 4, 2020
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Patient-Specific Lattice Implants for Segmental Femoral and Tibial Reconstruction (Part 2): CT-Based Personalization,
Mansoureh Rezapourian1, Anooshe Sadat Mirhakimi2, Tatevik Minasyan1
1Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, Tallinn University of Technology, 19086 Tallinn, Estonia.
Biomimetics (Basel, Switzerland)
|February 26, 2026
Summary
This review details the process of creating patient-specific lattice implants (PSLIs) from CT scans for bone defect reconstruction. It covers fabrication, verification, and identifies gaps for improving future implant development.
Area of Science:
- Biomaterials Engineering
- Medical Imaging
- Computational Mechanics
Background:
- Patient-specific lattice implants (PSLIs) offer solutions for complex diaphyseal bone defects where traditional methods fail.
- This review, Part 2, focuses on the transformation of imaging data into functional implants.
Purpose of the Study:
- To outline the workflow for creating patient-specific lattice implants from CT data.
- To compare fabrication methods and verification strategies for these implants.
- To identify limitations and provide recommendations for standardized implant development.
Main Methods:
- Review of imaging pipelines (DICOM, segmentation, mirroring, HU-density mapping).
- Comparison of lattice design, materials (metals, polymers, bioceramics), and additive manufacturing (LPBF, EBM, FDM, etc.).
- Overview of verification methods: numerical (FE models), mechanical (bench-top tests), biological (cell assays, animal studies), and clinical.
Main Results:
- Established a general workflow for CT-based implant creation.
- Identified common process gaps including insufficient reporting of imaging/modeling details.
- Noted a lack of data on fatigue, remodeling, and limited clinical cohort sizes.
Conclusions:
- Recommendations are provided for developing standardized and scalable planning pipelines for PSLIs.
- Addressing identified gaps will advance the clinical translation of patient-specific lattice implants.
- The review highlights the interdisciplinary nature of PSLI development, from imaging to clinical validation.
