Implantation of Codubix® CT cranial prosthesis, 2014 08 26, Lithuania
Report: Implantation of Codubix® 3D cranial prosthesis 2014 08 26 – Žydrūnė Musienė, Lithuania
1. Place and date of the operation
The operation was carried out in Kaunas, in a public facility, at the Kaunas clinic centre at the Lithuanian University of Health Sciences.
Date of the operation: 2014 08 26
2. Situation/circumstances
Patient V. B. (born in 1984) suffered an injury at work in 2012. The patient worked in a warehouse and while being at height on a lift installed on a forklift he fell down on his head. After the injury five operations were performed, during which it was attempted to reconstruct the skull bone defect with the patient’s skull bone. However, the patient’s immune system didn’t adopt its own bones after unfreezing. The patient recovered after the injury, he had no neurological damage, but a relatively high skull bone defect / loss remained. The patient learned from his doctor / Head of the Department of neurosurgery at the Kaunas hospital about new possibilities offered by the Codubix 3D implant. The doctor turned to TZMO Lietuva asking to prepare an individual implant for the patient.
3. Before the surgery
On July 20, 2013 under my direction all the necessary computer images were taken and transferred to the Tricomed company. There began the production of the prosthesis.
Because the damage was very big, the producer decided to make the prosthesis in two parts that was to be connected during the operation
4. During the surgery
The operation was conducted by two doctors:
- Associate Professor R. Vilcinis – head of the Craniocerebral Department
- Doctor M. Vaišvila – assistant
The operation lasted for about 3.5 hours. Inserting the Codubix 3D prosthesis took about 30 minutes. Individual parts of the prosthesis were connected with titanium plates by Aesculap AG. The prosthesis was also fixed to the skull using Aesculap AG titanium plates. The prosthesis did not fit exactly the patient’s cavity, that’s why special scissors were needed to adjust the prosthesis during the surgery. I participated in the operation.
5. Before and during the surgery
Preparing place for the implant and checking it
After fixation
The patient before and after the surgery
6. After the surgery
1st day
The patient’s condition is stable, there are no signs of possible complications. The patient is transferred to the general neurosurgical department.
3rd day
The patient’s condition is still stable. No signs of complications. The patient can stand on his own, gets out of bed.
7th day
The patient’s condition is stable – he had the stitches removed.
10th day
The patient returns home. He will remain under medical supervision.
7. Doctors’ evaluation
The head physician and the patient’s doctor are very pleased with the outcome of the operation.
The bone loss was large, and therefore there was no other way to reconstruct the bone damage. Only the individual prosthesis could do that.
The individual Codubix skull bone prosthesis restored the young man to a normal, active life.
8. Problems/remarks
During the preparation and implantation of the prosthesis there were no problems or remarks.