From aerospace engineering to the operating room: the first implanted bone metamaterial saves Pierre's leg
The Gregorio Marañón Hospital and the Polytechnic University of Madrid have developed a shinbone using 3D technology that has allowed a 38-year-old man to keep his leg and be able to walk.
A few years ago, Pierre, a 38-year-old Frenchman, was diagnosed with cancer. After an X-ray and a biopsy, doctors were able to identify that it was a high-grade bone sarcoma in the tibia, an aggressive tumor that had grown rapidly. Pierre was treated at the Gregorio Marañón Hospital, a national reference center for sarcomas of the musculoskeletal system.
The surgeons managed to remove the tumor while he kept his leg and joint, but removing it was only the first step. The missing bone still had to be reconstructed and make sure that leg could support his body weight again. The solution came from an alliance between the hospital and the Polytechnic University of Madrid. They made him a customized bone prosthesis of metamaterial, the first of its kind in the world to be implanted in a patient.
Translated by urgent.news. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
