First ever pectus excavatum correction surgery with 3D printed titanium plate completed in China

"...doctors in the TangDu Hospital of the fourth Military Medical University in Xi'an city, Shaanxi province, China, have recently and successfully completed a complex pectus excavatum procedure in which a 3D printed titanium alloy plate was implanted into a young girl’s chest all. It was the first time 3D printing technology was used in such a rare and complex surgery, that absolutely requires a customized approach. In short, it was nothing but a major breakthrough.

The patient in question was the 18 year old Xia Ling, from the Shanxi province, a student who had recently finished her entrance examination for the University of Medical Science (majoring in clinical medicine). Unfortunately, she had been suffering from chest wall deformities since she was a child, resulting in severe pectus excavatum, spine scoliosis, left thorax are concave, and right thorax convex. In her case, the Haller index for pectus excavatum is 6.76, with a funnel being about 15cmx15cmx6cm in size and 45 cm3 in volume. ‘The patient's chest wall deformity is very serious, with the chest 'hole' being as big as a bowl,’ explained Thoracic surgeon Huang Lijun, who is Deputy Director at the hospital. She had previously undergone two deformity correction surgeries, which both failed.