Of the 6 million fractures that occur annually in the U.S., about 1.9%-15% cause non-union, which is the body’s inability to heal a bone defect for several months at a time. Factors such as the bone’s size, anatomical location, or the patient’s underlying health issues can influence non-union. The development of porous structures can be useful in promoting the healing of such defected bones; however, they can be challenging to incorporate in implants using traditional manufacturing methods due to their complexity and size. In order to achieve such structures in an implant, a sheep DICOM set was used to generate a 3D-model of the tibiae which allowed for a critical-sized defect to be resected from the bone. Then, MathMod and Blender were utilized to generate a diamond triply periodic minimal surface in the shape of the resected bone. This structure was then sliced and 3D-printed to produce a fully porous implant that was patient-specific for the sheep tibia. This workflow will be particularly useful in producing implant structures that closely mimic the properties of a patient’s bone while also being patient-specific. Future work will include optimizing the design of this implant before animal trials are conducted.
