rates for American soldiers with head wounds are improving
significantly because of new technology to quickly produce
custom cranial implants that are more resistant to infection.
More than 70 cranial plates have been produced using the new
process at Walter Reed Army Medical Center (WRAMC) in
Washington, D.C., with an average surgical time of 90 minutes
from first incision to completion of suturing. Previously, the
same types of surgeries took from two hours to more than six
hours. savings can be directly attributed to the improved
implant design and attached fixation," says Stephen L. Rouse,
DDS, a government contractor working in the 3-D Medical
Applications Lab at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. "Large
implants were previously multi-piece constructs, and were slower
to place and fixate." At the heart of the process is advanced
application of 3-D digital scanning and high-powered additive
manufacturing equipment that can make highly accurate custom
shapes in medical-grade titanium alloys. systems were bas