3D Printed Heel Saves Cancer Patient's Leg

[Brian_Krassenstein]

In Melbourne, Australia, a team of doctors and scientists put their heads together in using 3D scanning and 3D printing to give Len Chandler a new heel bone. Chandler had been diagnosed with cancer of the calcaneus, or heel bone, where he had a tumor, which in many cases might have resulted in amputation if it hadn’t been for the technology of 3D printing. Through 3D scanning the healthy foot, data was sent from St Vincent’s Hospital surgeon Prof Peter Choong to Anatomics, where they created a design for a new heel bone. CSIRO came in and 3D printed a titanium heel implant using their Arcam 3D printer. More details on this 3D printed Heel can be found here: http://3dprint.com/20052/3d-printed-heel-cancer

[raye]

Can you tell us what type of cancer this was? My husband has a chondra sarcoma in his left heel bone.