US 11,304,808 B2 · Patient-specific craniofacial implants

Abstract

Patient-specific craniofacial implants structured for filling bone voids or planned bone voids in the cranium and face as well as for simultaneously providing soft tissue reconstruction and/or augmentation for improved aesthetic symmetry and appearance of face and skull. Pterional or temporal voids or defects generally result from a chronic skull or lateral facial deformity along with a compromised temporalis muscle or soft tissue distortion from previous surgery. When muscle and fat atrophy occurs in the pterion or temporal face, temporal hollowing deformity generally results where there would be soft tissue but for the atrophy. The patient-specific craniofacial implants with dual-purpose herein are configured to have an augmented region adjacent the temporal region of the face and cranium in order to prevent and/or correct any such temporal hollowing deformity and to utilize this newfound space to strategically embed implantable neurotechnologies for improved outcomes.

Claims3

Dependent claims

A method of designing a facial or craniofacial implant for filling a bony void in a cranial and/or facial region of a patient and for replacing facial soft tissue comprising:

creating a three-dimensional model of the cranial and/or facial region having the bony void;
based on the three-dimensional model, creating an implant model configured to fill the bony void and replace facial soft tissue in the cranial and/or facial region, the implant model comprising an extension of material that goes above an intact skull region to fill in an area suffering nearby soft tissue atrophy as an onlay extension around the zygomatico-frontal suture along the temporal fossa abutting the lateral orbital rim;
and
forming a temporal trim window on the implant model that prevents temporalis muscle impingement with an inferior limit designed based on an anatomical vector line between a zygomatic process of a temporal bone and a zygomatic-frontal suture line along the lateral orbital rim.

1 more element

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Patient-specific craniofacial implants

Life of this patent

Patient-specific craniofacial implants

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims3