Like most dogs, Abe loves chewing on a good bone.
Watching him, it's hard to believe that in 2014 he nearly lost his jaw after being diagnosed with bone cancer.
Now the Doberman has a mouth full of designer metal. The diseased section of jaw has been replaced with a custom-made, 3D-printed titanium implant. It's an exact replica of the old bone.
"He was on soft foods for a couple of months but then moved onto biscuits and now you can hardly tell apart from a little muscle wastage on that side of his face," says his owner Colette, who paid about $9000 for the cutting edge operation.
Abe is one of only eight animals (six dogs, two cats) with a custom-made titanium implant, a method being pioneered in New Zealand. Some have had jaws replaced, others have new limbs.
The implants are made possible by animal oncologist Professor Jonathan Bray and his team from Massey University’s Veterinary Teaching Hospital, a 3D metal printing firm from Tauranga called Rapid Advanced Manufacturing (RAM), and Axia, a Napier design company.
Using information from a CT scan of an affected bone, CAD design software is used to create an implant specific to the animal. The final design solution is then converted to suitable data files for 3D construction from titanium powder using a selective laser melting instrument.
"We take surgery that has traditionally been very complicated, where we are trying to mould a generic implant to fit something that isn't quite perfect -- this is plug and play. We have an implant that's the absolute perfect fit for the patient," said Professor Bray.
While using titanium for implants isn’t new, it’s this particular combination of design, manufacture and implementation that is receiving rave reviews internationally.
The implant can be made and fitted just days after the animal is seen, making it very cost-effective. One implant was recently shipped to Canada to help save the life of a cat.
The implant’s porous scaffold construction is a crucial part of its success. Unlike other implants, the scaffold forms the whole structure so tissue can grow through it as well as around it.
"If we can get the integration right and the implant behaving like bone, then we can actually get bone forming onto the surface of the implant. That's kind of the long-term goal,’ said Professor Bray.
This potential for complete integration of the implant into the host tissues is the Holy Grail for human biomedical implants, a fact that hasn’t escaped the team at RAM.
While there are plenty of other uses for 3D printed titanium -- they produce everything from bikes and jewellery to gun silencers and medical instruments -- it's this process of turning dust into bone that really excites them and has the most potential for growth.
"From our perspective, there are handfuls of custom implants made for humans in the world. We want to get the process, the systems and the product right for large-volume human implants," says RAM CEO Warwick Downing.
"This could have a huge impact on healthcare. Custom implants could ultimately become cheaper than a non-custom implants."
The animals taking part in this study will be examined after their deaths to see how well the implants have integrated. Because animals having fairly short life spans, the researchers won't have to wait decades for the results.
Abe is a rescue dog. Before he met Colette, he'd been chained up and starved.
He’s now 11 and won't have a lot longer to live, so improving his final years has been very important to her.
"I feel great. He’s a very loyal dog and a dog that would give their life for you," she says.
"These animals, they become part of your family. You really have to give them every chance you can."
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