Orthopaedics specialist uses software to design and manufacture custom-made bone
and joint implants in patients with tumours and major bone loss. In most cases, the only
alternative to the implants would be amputation of the affected limb.
Software supports surgeons
CopyCAD converts scan data to a digital model
of the skeletal part
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january 2008
Implant design is completed using
PowerSHAPE
IN the past three years, more than 250 people, of
whom around 90% were under 30 years old, have had
life-changing, or even life-saving, surgery from
ISIQU, based near Cape Town. Patients include a 19year-old
woman whose arm and scapula were saved
from bone cancer, and a 70-year-old man diagnosed
with a malignant tumour in his lower arm.
‘We have been using Delcam products since the start
of ISIQU’s manufacturing operations,’ explains
Director Dr George Vicatos. ‘With the complexity of
our work, we didn’t have a big selection of CADCAM
products from which to choose. The way that Georgio
Yannikarkis from our reseller, Aztech, presented the
software made all the difference. In my mind, there
were no other products on the market that offered the
versatility, power and precision needed for our work.’
The ISIQU process begins with information from
the patient, which comes either in x-ray format, or as
an MRI or 3D CT scan. If it is in the first two formats,
the image is scanned and digitised, and the basic
dimensions obtained to help in the design decisions. If
it is in CT scan format, it is first converted to an STL
file format, which then is imported into Delcam’s
CopyCAD reverse engineering software. In this
software, the STL file is converted into surfaces to
produce a digital model of the skeletal part that will
be replaced with the implant. The surfaces produced
by CopyCAD, or the dimensions from x-ray or MRI
scans, are imported into the PowerSHAPE CAD
software in which the design of the implant is
completed.
The final design is passed into the PowerMILL
CAM system, which is used exclusively by ISIQU
software & controls
Final machining on a DMG 5-axis milling
machine is programmed using PowerMill
technicians to program the company’s 5-axis DMG
milling machine. ‘I do not believe that any other
software in the market could create the programs as
quickly and as easily as PowerMILL, especially with
the complexity of the surfaces that we machine,’
comments Dr Vicatos. ‘The programming and
machining times for our implants are crucial. We
always produce custom implants and sometimes we
have only two days’ notice before the operation.
‘Our implants are machined exclusively of a medical
grade titanium alloy; the material offers superb
compatibility with the skeletal structure, not only
because the body tissue accepts it, but also because of
its elasticity and light weight.
‘However, it is an unforgiving material if any aspect
of the machining is not perfect. We have studied
technology that has been developed for cutting
titanium in other industries when setting speeds and
feeds, and, as well as having the best software, we use
the best cutting tools that the market can provide.
‘The time constraints that we work under mean that
the complete process from receiving the patient’s data,
to the design, to the programming, to the machining
and to the finished implant has to have no surprises
that would delay the operation,’ comments Dr Vicatos.
‘Although the process seems to be complicated, with
the Delcam software, it is in fact straightforward and
fast. Most importantly, I feel comfortable that the
patient will get exactly the implant I have designed,
and this is what counts. It would be difficult to
undertake any of the surgery we perform without the
software; it many cases it would be impossible.’
www.delcam.com
MWP
63
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