Cancer survivor’s jawbone reconstructed with 3D printing

NEW DELHI: In a unique and first-of-its-kind procedure to reconstruct a jaw using 3D printing technology, doctors from Fortis Hospital here have given a 30-year-old young professional the greatest gift of his life.

This novel technology was used to reconstruct a titanium jaw and implant it onto the 30-year-old man from Faridabad, giving him complete control over his mouth, which allowed him to chew food properly after seven years since his jaw was removed due to cancer.

Prabhjeet, 30, is a two-time oral cancer survivor and had been living without the right half of his jawbone for more than seven years. The part of his jaw was removed during a surgery to cure him of cancer.

Prabhjeet was initially unsure of the procedure, but had agreed to go for this first-of-a-kind surgery in India when doctors at the Fortis Hospital convinced him of success.

Prabhjeet told The Sunday Guardian, “Initially, I was unsure about it. But, when Dr Mandeep explained to me that there is a good chance of success, I decided to go for it. Following the surgery, I was on soft food and liquid diet for three weeks to provide time for the new jaw to get integrated. I have also undergone physiotherapy for optimising the jaw movements. Today, I can taste and chew any food of my choice and more or less lead a normal life.”

The process, which took over nine months to achieve the desired success, was designed and operated by Dr Mandeep Singh Malhotra, Head of Department (HOD), Head, Neck and Breast Oncoplasty and his team at the Fortis Hospital in Vasant Kunj, to achieve the right alignment and ensure the new jaw functioned like a normal jaw.

Speaking to The Sunday Guardian and explaining the process of this complicated surgery which lasted for over eight hours, Dr Mandeep Malhotra said, “When his oral cancer was operated upon, it was decided to remove a part of his jaw for the cancer to be fully cured and after waiting for over five to six years to ensure that the cancer did not relapse and all the facial tissues that were scarred due to radiation were healed, we decided to go forward with this surgery. We avoided the conventional methodology of using one’s own lower leg bone in form of fibula to reconstruct the jawbone because of the patients underlying SLE (Poor immunity) diseases. Therefore, we decided to make a prosthetic joint using the 3D technology.”

The 3D printing of the jaw was done after getting the image of the patient’s skull and jawline. The jaw was created using the biocompatible and light weight titanium metal.

Dr Mandeep further added that the surgery was complicated because of the underlying multiple facial nerves that are responsible for facial expressions and that the doctors had to ensure that such nerves are protected and no damage is done to them while inserting any screws.  According to the Fortis Hospital, the entire process of 3D printing of the jaw and the reconstruction was completely done and ideated in India and the surgery cost was approximately Rs 4-5 lakh.