Designing patient-specific orthopaedic mesh implants to treat high-energy tibial fractures

High energy fractures of the tibia can frequently lead to segmental bone loss. Due to delayed fracture healing caused by poor blood flow, increased mechanical demands are placed on the fracture fixation devices, which can lead to premature failure. However, these methods have proven to be insufficient for fractures with segmental bone loss because they lack the combination of providing acute stability for early weight bearing, a platform for bony ingrowth, and long-term stability. These limitations can often result in amputation. The purpose of this project was to develop a mesh implant possessing a shape that mimics the profile of the bone fracture using rapid prototyping techniques. The first aim of this study was to develop the methods for designing a patient-specific orthopaedic implant of a high energy fracture. The second aim was to computationally assess the custom implant using finite element analyses. Our third aim is to fabricate rapidly manufactured implants, and experimentally load them to test the accuracy of the computational model.