Intra-operatively contoured patient-specific Titanium implants for Primary Cranioplasty

Background: Cranioplasty using titanium mesh is a commonly done surgical procedure in Neurosurgery.The optimum manner of the intervention would enable a cost-effective, ready to use, patient-specific implant which can be moulded intraoperatively.Materials and methods: Sixteen patients subjected to primary titanium mesh cranioplasty, the implant being contoured during the intervention, were subjected to a retrospective observational study.Observations and Results: The clinical outcome was measured based on the Glasgow coma scale, and showed remarkable improvement.There was no incidence infection, implant rejection, or bone resorption.The prognosis of the patients who had recurrent brain tumours was grim.Conclusion: Manual intra-operative contouring of titanium mesh implants showed good results after cranioplasty, provided the underlying neurological problem be amenable to therapy.