Abstract:

BACKGROUND: The titanium mesh with computer-aided design and individual shaped titanium armor plate has been widely used in repairing skull defects, but there exist many problems such as equipment, time, expenses etc. Researches attempt to develop a simple method that can retain digital molding to establish three-dimensional solid model of cranial defects.
OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the feasibility and clinical application value of digital model for cranium osteoplasty.
METHODS: A total of 92 patients undergoing cranioplasty were selected and divided into 2 groups: digital model-aided molding group (n=32), treated with the digital model made by simple device and the titanium mesh mold according to the digital model; manually molding group (n=60), treated with manually mold titanium mesh.
RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: Compared with the manually molding group, the operation time was shorter (P < 0.01) and the number of titanium screws was fewer (5.781 vs. 7.050) in the digital model-aided molding group (P < 0.01). There were no significant differences in complications between two groups (P > 0.05). The satisfactory rate of patients was higher in digital model-aided molding group compared with the manually molding group (P < 0.05). Results showed that titanium mesh with computer-aided design and individual shaped titanium armor plate simplifies molding, reduces requirement for equipment and balances operation cost and outlooking.