A team from the Centre for Rapid Prototyping and Manufacturing (CRPM) at CUT in partnership with doctors from the central region of South Africa, Materialise – a Belgian company which donated R65,000, Technimark in Cape Town, Stellenbosch University and CSIR, teamed up to undertake another ground-breaking surgical operation on a 32-year old female patient in Kimberley Hospital on 14 October 2015.

The patient was referred to Kimberley Hospital in 2014 and diagnosed with Ossifying Fibroma – a slow growing, non-painful tumour causing the expansion of her lower jaw.  At the time, the surgery was postponed, as the patient was pregnant. She returned to the hospital in March this year and was referred for a CT scan and several medical tests in preparation for surgery. Because of her age, the trio decided to resect the tumour and immediately place a custom-made laser sintered titanium implant. Prof. Cules van den Heever, CUT Extraordinary Professor in the Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology, together with Dr Kobus Hoek, maxillofacial surgeon from Bloemfontein, Drs Riaan Liebenberg and Phillip Jonsson at Kimberley Hospital, performed a reconstructive surgery removing the tumour and restore proper function and aesthetics of her mouth, face and jaw.  In 2014, two patients underwent a similar operation at the same hospital and received titanium implants which were laser sintered with the use of 3D printing from CUT’s CRPM. “We are privileged to be involved in the design and 3D printing of this custom-made titanium implant, pre-operative model and cutting guide. The total manufacturing cost is R40 000 and is subsidised by CUT and Materialise, Belgium,” said Gerrie Booysen, Director CRPM. 

The team has dedicated their time, skills and efforts as a gratuitous service of helping to restore the dignity of patients and make them socially acceptable. Other important roleplayers who worked on the projects without any compensation include Dr Anton du Plessis from the Central Analytical Facilities, Stellenbosch University, responsible for Micro CT Scanning of the implant (test for perfection), Sven Delport from Technimark who did the stress analysis on the design (test to determine the strength of the implant), and Pierre Rossouw from the CSIR, who was responsible for heat treatment (test for implants flexibility). In August of this year, CRPM was awarded the Research Chair in Medical Product Development under the Department of Science and Technology’s South African Research Chairs Initiative (SARChI); the goal of which is to increase the research output and innovation in areas that are considered essential to the country’s strategic growth and development. CUT's Research Chair, under the leadership of Prof. Igor Yadroitsau, was awarded in recognition of the excellent work that CUT is doing in this dynamic and exciting field. At a recent conference Prof. van den Heever said “My dream is to have a Maxillofacial Prosthodontics Unit here at CUT so that we can perform more reconstructive surgeries and save more lives.” The active support and funding by the South African Department of Science and Technology for the Collaborative Program in Additive Manufacturing and the National Research Foundation for the South African Research Chairs Initiative (SARChI) is gratefully acknowledged. 

Images 

The expert team, from left (back row): Prof. Cules van den Heever, Dr Kobus Hoek, Dr Riaan Liebenberg, Mr Gerrie Booysen and from left (front): Dr Philip Jonsson, Mr Johan Els, Project Engineer at CUT, and Mr Andre Heydenrych, Junior Project Engineer also at CUT.