Custom-made implant used to rebuild patient’s chest after cancer surgery

Cardiothoracic surgeons Ira Goldsmith and Thomas Bragg at Morriston Hospital in Swansea turned to Renishaw’s medical prosthesis team to help repair a large gap in the chest of 71-year-old Peter Maggs, left after the removal of a tumour that had developed in the cartilage of one of his ribs.

Maggs had experienced no pain or discomfort and thought that the lump in his chest was a cyst, but scans have revealed a tumour the width of a tennis ball. “It was a very extensive growth that need to be removed,” explained Goldsmith. “However removing it also meant removing part of the breastbone and three ribs.”

Normal surgical procedure would be to repair the resulting gap with a cement prosthesis that would be made during the surgery. However, because Maggs suffers from heart problems and this would have lengthened the surgery, the team thought that a premade custom implant would provide a faster and better solution. “Although [a cement prosthesis] can be quite substantial it is not a precise fit, and it can move, causing problems such as dislocation,” Goldsmith said.