In traumatic accidents, broken bones can be reduced to bone fragments, sometimes leaving a void in the bone structure that needs to be filled. IMSE Assistant Professor Matt Frank is investigating the use of a subtractive rapid prototyping process called CNC-RP to reverse-engineer replacement bone fragments from medical imaging such as CT scans. The research could impact the effectiveness of orthopedic surgery for traumatic bone fracture, as custom prototyped bone fragments should aid in bone growth and improve recovery.
- CT scan of fractured tibia
- Surface model from segmented image
- Extracted CAS model of bone fragment
- Fixturing and tool paths from CNC-RP software
- Rapid machining of bone fragment