CAD improves reconstructive surgery for cancer patients

In a study published today in Biofabrication, researchers used computer-aided design (CAD) to create a mould of a breast that was used as a visual aid to surgeons in tissue reconstruction operations.

CAD was also used to design and produce patient-specific physical scaffolds that could potentially be used in conjunction with tissue engineering.

According to a statement, patients’ own cells could, in theory, be harnessed and grown onto the highly specific scaffold and then transferred to the affected area, avoiding the need to transfer tissue from other parts of the body.

Study co-author Prof Dietmar Hutmacher said: ‘We would take a laser scan of the healthy breast and use the CAD modelling process to design a patient-specific scaffold in silico. We would then produce a scaffold of very high porosity and load it with the patient’s own cells in combination with a hydrogel. The construct would then be implanted.’

CAD — the use of computer technology in the process of design — is claimed to hold several advantages over traditional pen and paper approaches, including the ability to work to full scale, examine the design from all angles and to maintain absolute accuracy.