NIT Srinagar, SKIMS develop first patient-specific cranial prosthesis of titanium mesh

Srinagar :Researcher teams from the National Institute of Technology (NIT) Srinagar and Sher-i-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences (SKIMS) Soura have jointly developed the first patient-specific cranial prosthesis of titanium mesh that will reduce 15 minutes of surgery time.
Professionals from Mechanical Engineering Department NIT Srinagar and SKIMS Soura worked to develop the first patient-specific cranial prosthesis of titanium mesh. They have used available CAD/CAM, Computer-Aided Design and Computer-Aided Manufacturing facilities at NIT Srinagar.
In his message, Director NIT Srinagar, Prof. (Dr.) RakeshSehgal extended a greeting to all the members and stated that the institute will always take lead in innovations that will benefit the common masses.
“Over the past several years NIT Srinagar has signed several MoUs with Institutions across the globe, and the joint collaboration in research is yielding good results. We are committed to serve society through technology, and ease living of common people,” he said.
Prof.Sehgal intended that the end-use of education is to give back to society in the form of solutions to various problems.
Institute’s Registrar, Prof. Syed Kaiser Bukhari appreciated the team members for developing the first patient-specific cranial prosthesis of titanium mesh and equipment will be highly beneficial for the patients.
“We need to develop and test solutions; predict outcomes and mitigate harm and make informed policy decisions,” he said.
Prof. Bukhari said research and innovation are critical for generating new knowledge, building new infrastructure, and educating innovators and entrepreneurs.
The joint team includes Prof.AbrarAhad Wani, Prof.AltafUmerRamzan, of SKIMS, Prof.RakeshSehgal, Director NIT Srinagar, Dr. Sheikh Ghulam Mohammad Ex-Associate Professor, Prof. Sheikh Nazir Ahmed, Prof. Mohammed Farooq Wani, Dr. Mohammad Mursaleen and Ph.D. Scholar Imran Ali.
The patient-specific cranial prosthesis of titanium mesh will reduce15 minutes of surgery time and was finally successfully implanted in a patient on 1 July 2022 at SKIMS, Soura.
In the project, anatomy was engineered by taking patients’ CT scan data as an input, 3D model was developed using MIMICS software and, the prosthesis was designed using 3-Matic software.
The prototype was manufactured on the state-of-the-art computer-controlled Fused Deposition Modeling, (FDM) machine-Fortus 450mc, Stratasys USA in the mechanical engineering department.
As per the team, the commercially available titanium mesh, Medical Grade 1 was bent on the developed skull prototype made of ABS-M30i to restore the anatomical features of the patient’s head who had met an accident a few months before in Kashmir.
“Intra-operative surgery time was reduced to approx. 15 minutes for a defect of size 36 sq. cm2, approximately as the titanium shearing operation traditionally performed by the neurosurgeon was done well before the surgery,” the team said.
They said the new equipment will reduce 15 minutes of surgery time helped in saving considerable blood loss during the surgery.
The titanium mesh prosthesis was verified by the neurosurgeon after autoclaving, before implantation.