Professor, Orthopedic Surgery University of California, Davis Davis, California
Custom implants can be developed and used to manage complex orthopedic situations. In fracture management, custom bone plates can be developed for particularly small or large patients and for specific anatomic locations where commercial implants have not been developed. Anatomic locations where fracture stabilization may be challenging include flat bones (skull), cuboidal bones (carpus, tarsus), irregular bones (vertebrae), and sesamoid bones (patella). For total joint arthroplasty, custom implants are used to manage bone loss, abnormalities in bone shape or structure, or unusual bone sizes. Custom implants may be used as part of limb-sparing procedures, to fill large bone defects or to replace a missing portion of a bone, a whole bone, or a limb segment. This lecture will describe the rationale, design, and production process of custom implants for veterinary surgeons.