Design for medical rapid prototyping of cranioplasty implants

Design methods for medical rapid prototyping (RP) of personalized cranioplasty implants are presented in this paper. These methods are applicable to model cranioplasty implants for all types of the skull defects including beyond-midline and multiple defects. The methods are based on two types of anatomical data, solid bone models (STereoLithography files - STL) and bone slice contours (initial Graphics Exchange Specification - IGES and StrataSys Layer files - SSL). The bone solids and contours are constructed based on computed tomography scanning data, and these data are generated in medical image processing and STL slicing packages.