Israeli Surgeons Rebuild a Patient's Chest With a 3D-Printed PEKK Implant

Surgeons at Clalit-Beilinson Hospital in Israel have carried out the country's first full chest-wall reconstruction using a 3D-printed implant. The patient, a woman in her twenties called Hadas, had a tumor eating into her sternum. At first it looked like a benign cartilage growth, but further tests showed it was a BRAF-altered mesenchymal sarcoma, a cancer recorded in only about 20 cases worldwide.

Removing the tumor meant taking out her sternum and parts of the attached ribs. That left a gap right where the rib cage needs to be strongest, protecting the heart and lungs while flexing with every breath. Rebuilding that area is one of the hardest jobs in thoracic surgery, because the replacement has to be rigid enough to shield organs and elastic enough to move.

The team turned down the usual options: synthetic mesh, titanium plates, and bone cement. Instead, they designed a patient-specific implant and printed it from PEKK, a carbon fiber-reinforced polymer that behaves more like real bone than metal does. Dr. Israel Weiss, head of orthopedic oncology at the hospital, said PEKK gives the right mix of strength and flexibility. It also lets surrounding tissue gradually bond with the implant over time.

The whole operation took about two hours. Surgeons removed the diseased bone and slid the custom implant in through a discreet incision beneath the breasts, a choice that should limit visible scarring. Hadas has already been discharged and is recovering at home.

Dr. Yury Peysakhovich, head of thoracic surgery, called the case a reminder that rare cancers sometimes need solutions that did not exist a few years ago. Patient-specific 3D printing is still not routine, but cases like this keep pushing it closer.