Anatomski oblikovan rešetkasti skafold za velike traume kosti donje vilice

Abstract

The analysis of the existing design concepts of the scaffolds aimed for bone tissue regeneration shows that there is a great interest in research of scaffold construction, which would be easiest to adapt to the particular patient. The scaffolds’ personalization requirements can be perceived from three aspects: anatomical (geometric) congruency, compliance of mechanical properties with expected load and deformation specificities, and biodegradability. The dissertation goal is to propose the construction of anatomically shaped lattice scaffold aimed for the mandible large trauma and the method of its modeling. Relaying on positive preliminary results of ongoing in vivo experiments with animals, a decision to explore cage-like scaffold design concept, which should mechanically support the bone graft in the early transformation period was made. For remodeling of bio-shapes and modeling of personalized scaffolds, the T-NURCCS surfaces and the SubD surfacing method were chosen. The thesis was that this choice would provide the most efficient way for modeling the scaffold complex geometry, which should be both anatomically congruent and easily modifiable matching the required mechanical properties of the scaffold. To prove the thesis, three different scaffold modeling procedures were developed and compared. The comparison results have clearly shown the application of T-NURRCS surfaces and SubD surfacing as the most efficient approach. The dissertation presents results of the preliminary structural analysis, which showed that mechanical characteristics of the scaffold could be most effectively adjusted if the model is made with T-NURRCS surfaces. In this case the change of spatial arrangement of the scaffold's struts is the simplest to make. For the purpose of experimental verification of the design and performed analyses, several prototypes of the representative scaffold design were fabricated using FDM technology. The complex geometry of the scaffold is made by deposing two types of material per layer simultaneously, where the support structure material is water soluble and the scaffold material is a biodegradable polymer