3D Printed Titanium Implant Helps Man Regain Mobility

Amit Bhanot of India was, in his own words, “a perfectly normal kid who enjoyed bicycling, playing cricket and other sports” until 1991, when he began feeling a sharp pain in his groin and right leg. This was the beginning of several difficult years of visiting different hospitals and receiving different diagnoses and treatments; meanwhile, he was losing mobility in his right hip. In 2000, Bhanot was diagnosed with ankylosing spondylitis, a severe form of arthritis that can cause the joints to fuse. Bhanot’s case had advanced to the point that his right hip joint had fused and his left was beginning to be affected as well.

In 2007, Bhanot had a total hip replacement on his right hip and one on his left in 2008. His mobility returned, but by 2017 he was experiencing pain again and was informed that he might need to get a revision done in a few years. This led Bhanot, now 39, to the orthopedic surgery division of All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), the largest public hospital in India. There he met with Professor Rajesh Malhotra, Head of Orthopedics, who noted that Bhanot had already lost a large part of his pelvic bone and that the implant was failing. This type of bone loss, he knew, could not be corrected with conventional surgery techniques or with an off-the-shelf implant.

Malhotra then turned to Sanjay Kumar Pathak and his company Global Health Care, which had been responsible for creating the first 3D printed titanium vertebrae in India last year.

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thumbnail courtesy of 3dprint.com