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The analysis of defects in custom 3D‐printed acetabular cups: A comparative study of commercially available implants from six manufacturers

Hothi, Harry; Henckel, Johann; Bergiers, Sean; Di Laura, Anna; Schlueter‐Brust, Klaus; Hart, Alister; (2022) The analysis of defects in custom 3D‐printed acetabular cups: A comparative study of commercially available implants from six manufacturers. Journal of Orthopaedic Research 10.1002/jor.25483. (In press). Green open access

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Abstract

Three-dimensional (3D) printing is used to manufacture custom acetabular cups to treat patients with massive acetabular defects. There is a risk of defects occurring in these, often in the form of structural voids. Our aim was to investigate the presence of voids in commercially available cups. We examined 12, final-production titanium custom acetabular cups, that had been 3D-printed by six manufacturers. We measured their mass, then performed micro-computed tomography (micro-CT) imaging to determine their volume and density. The micro-CT data were examined for the presence of voids. In cups that had voids, we computed (1) the number of voids, (2) their volume and the cup volume fraction, (3) their sphericity, (4) size, and (5) their location. The cups had median mass, volume, and density of 208.5 g, 46,471 mm3, and 4.42 g/cm3, respectively. Five cups were found to contain a median (range) of 90 (58–101) structural voids. The median void volume and cup volume fractions of cups with voids were 5.17 (1.05–17.33) mm3 and 99.983 (99.972–99.998)%, respectively. The median void sphericity and size were 0.47 (0.19–0.65) and 0.64 (0.27–8.82) mm, respectively. Voids were predominantly located adjacent to screw holes, within flanges, and at the transition between design features; these were between 0.17 and 4.66 mm from the cup surfaces. This is the first study to examine defects within final-production 3D-printed custom cups, providing data for regulators, surgeons, and manufacturers about the variability in final print quality. The size, shape, and location of these voids are such that there may be an increased risk of crack initiation from them.

Type: Article
Title: The analysis of defects in custom 3D‐printed acetabular cups: A comparative study of commercially available implants from six manufacturers
Open access status: An open access version is available from UCL Discovery
DOI: 10.1002/jor.25483
Publisher version: https://doi.org/10.1002/jor.25483
Language: English
Additional information: © 2022 The Authors. Journal of Orthopaedic Research® published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of Orthopaedic Research Society. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Keywords: acetabular defect, custom implant, micro‐CT, three‐dimensional printing
UCL classification: UCL
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Engineering Science
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Engineering Science > Dept of Mechanical Engineering
URI: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10160408
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