KLS Martin Nears 500th 3D Printed Ceramic Implant

KLS Martin will deliver its 500th lithography-based ceramic manufactured implant by the end of September 2026, marking a shift from experimental additive manufacturing to routine clinical supply.

The milestone applies to the company's Individual Patient Solutions (IPS) Gate platform, where surgeons order custom implants from CT data. The 500th unit will be a LithaBone TCP bioceramic scaffold, designed to resorb as new bone grows into it. Fixation can use titanium screws or KLS Martin's SonicWeld Rx resorbable pin system, which removes the need for a second removal surgery.

KLS Martin runs the production line inside a Class 7 clean room under ISO 13485 certification. Each set of surgical guides prints in roughly 24 minutes on EOS SLS machines using PA 2200 powder. The patient-specific ceramic implants themselves are manufactured on Lithoz CeraFab printers using LithaBone HA 480 hydroxyapatite.

Frank Reinauer, Senior Director Division Implant at KLS Martin, said the milestone means surgeons can plan, specify, and order a bioceramic implant through the same digital workflow they already use for other IPS solutions. That shortens the path from CT scan to operating room.

Johannes Homa, CEO of Lithoz, noted that the collaboration began 12 years ago. What started as a research project in a Viennese pizzeria is now a proven clinical pathway. He said the 500-implant milestone shows that resorbable additively manufactured bone-regenerating solutions are gaining broader acceptance worldwide.

The numbers are small compared to metal 3D printing in aerospace, but medical adoption moves slower for good reason. Each implant must match a patient's anatomy within fractions of a millimeter, survive sterilization, and degrade at a controlled rate inside the body. Hitting 500 units means the process has passed the validation barrier that kills most experimental implants.

KLS Martin expects continued growth after Q3. The company already produces hundreds of patient-specific zygomatic onlay implants and cranial devices using the same ceramic workflow. With LithaBone TCP now listed as an official product on IPS Gate, the pipeline from scanner to surgery is standardized.