3D Printed Bone Implants Are Now Available For Patients

[DaveE]

I think every maxfax will be able to order this, they just won't sell to plastic surgeons

[Bobbit]

I think every maxfax will be able to order this, they just won't sell to plastic surgeons

Why would they not sell to plastic surgeons ?

[carlos30]

Somehow I'm still skeptical.

I believe that the muscles which stretch the face from cheekbone to mouth, and cheekbone to jaw are attached to the actual cheekbones. Moving the bone in an osteotomy changes the shape of the actual muscle and how it holds the soft tissue on the face. OTOH, it seems like the only these implants or any others would do is augment the bone but leave the muscles and their points of attachment where they are, possibly resulting in sub-par results in terms of soft tissue position, which is very important in terms of facial contour.

I don't quite have a complete working knowledge of this, so please correct me if I'm wrong.

Here's a pic to show what I mean:

one reason why implants will never work.

[earl25]

Has anyone emailed dr yaremchuck on his opinion of these implants and if he plans on using them

[carlos30]

Has anyone emailed dr yaremchuck on his opinion of these implants and if he plans on using them

why would you care? aren't you done with midface?

[DaveE]

Why would they not sell to plastic surgeons ?

Because they say they will not

[earl25]

i emailed dr. y. he thinks they will be brittle and wont turn into bone

[DaveE]

i emailed dr. y. he thinks they will be brittle and wont turn into bone

Lol me too, he answered yesterday. Probably saw both of us asking the same thing.

I got a reply from company:

Currently we are working to prepare and set-up our CT-Bone production facility. Somehow these things always take longer than expected, so I hope we can start producing CT- Bone implants in Q2.
CT-Bone is indicated for use as a bone augmentation implant; to augment a patient's bone structure in order to achieve symmetry on a skeletal level. This should not be confused with soft-tissue cosmetic implants, which are used to augment soft-tissues.
Our initial focus will be on CMF surgeons, but indeed there is a lot of interest coming also from plastic, orthopedic and neuro-surgeons.

[boyo]

Update.

The company Xilloc is having problems getting the production of the implants ready. Apparently they need additional machinery and set up cleanroom production. As of today they don't have the economical means to sort it out, so they're planning for a crowfounding campaign in hopes of being able to launch CT-BONE. Their chief operation officer fears it will take a bit longer then 2016. Price range for CT-BONE implants are still estimated between 4,000-8,000 EUR.

[asphyxia]

Thanks a lot for this update, I was wondering what happened

[boyo]

Seems like the company have added more info on their website:

A pre-clinical study clearly shows the difference between an implant from Hydroxyapatite and an implant from CT-Bone. The CT-Bone implant really fuses with the original bone. Clinical studies confirm excellent bony fusion (results available upon request).

Further histological investigations showed that in the hydroxyapatite, bone-like tissue was only found in some micropores close to the surface. In CT-Bone, large bone-like tissues penetrated into the macropores, containing activated osteoclasts, fibroblasts and even blood vessels. In addition, bone marrow formation was observed containing erythroblasts and megakaryocytes.



Post-op (Hydroxyapatite left, CT-bone right).



24 weeks post-op.

Regarding implant resorption:

CT-Bone is biodegradable by the patient’s osteoclasts and after 3 months CT-Bone will be fused with the patient’s bone and will remodel in the osteo-cycle. CT-Bone does not loose shape/volume over time and therefore should not be confused with a bioresorbable material that will be resorption over time.

[Lazlo]

I emailed the founder who had communicated with me previously about what happens if you were hit or somehow the implant cracked or broke? Would you need a new operation or would it heal like natural bone? He never replied.

[JimmyTheGent]

I emailed the founder who had communicated with me previously about what happens if you were hit or somehow the implant cracked or broke? Would you need a new operation or would it heal like natural bone? He never replied.

Good question!!!

[Lestat]

He never replied.

Because it would (maybe) get infected.

[boyo]

I emailed the founder who had communicated with me previously about what happens if you were hit or somehow the implant cracked or broke? Would you need a new operation or would it heal like natural bone? He never replied.

Maybe they're too busy replying?

Due to overwhelming interest in CT-Bone, we are unfortunately unable to answer everybody personally. However if you contact us we will add you to our mailing list and you will receive email updates about the availability of CT-Bone.

Or maybe they don't want to admit what that one study discovered? f**k knows.

Either way, that's not a deal breaker for me, the implant is the closest thing to real bone we're going to get for a long time so i'm ready to compromise.