4WEB Medical made a medical breakthrough when they recently announced the implantation of over 3,000 3D-printed orthopedic truss implants.
Jessee Hunt, 4WEB’s CEO and President, received a patent for the truss implant on June 24, 2010.
This patent was for, “In various embodiments, an implant for interfacing with a bone structure [that] includes a web structure including a space truss. The space truss includes two or more planar truss units having a plurality of struts joined at nodes and the web structure is configured to interface with human bone tissue…”
As of late, 4WEB could be the first company that receives an FDA clearance for a 3D-printed spinal implant for its Cervical and Anterior Lumbar Interbody Fusion (ALIF) interbody devices.
This 3D-printed invention encourages healing and 75 percent of the implant can be filled with graft material, allowing it to be incorporated into the bone as much as possible.
This is a milestone for 4WEB Medical and their 3D-printed technology. In order for them to reach such a feat, through their 3D printing capabilities, they utilized engineering principles like structural mechanics and adjacent material reaction to invent innovative spine implants that work to stimulate healing.
The spine truss systems that 4WEB created are different from the other fusion implants on the market, due in part to the structural mechanics of the truss implants. The implants created by 4WEB are designed in a way that distributes loads across the entire endplate and throughout the device.
What does the latter mean? It means that these implants have the ability to reduce stress risers as well as subsidence-related complications. Additionally, they have the potential to stimulate a cellular response through a mechanical transduction of strain.
Below is a short clip that features a 3D rendering of 4WEB Medical’s truss implant:
The implantation of over 3,000 4WEB Medical 3D-printed orthopedic truss implants just goes to show that the world of 3D printing continues to grow and its possibilities are endless.
Copyright Inventionland, 2014
Sources:
https://3dprintingindustry.com/2014/11/13/3000-3d-printed-spinal-implants/
https://www.google.com/patents/US20100161061
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