From computerized tomography data processing to rapid manufacturing of custom-made prostheses for cranioplasty. Case report.

Cranioplasty is a surgical repair of a structural or morphological deformity of the skull, involving the resection, remolding and displacement of the bones of the head. As it pertains to abnormal head shape, cranioplasty is an operative procedure aimed to fill a gap in the cranial theca or to replace bone removed either as a result of trauma or infection, by means of a biocompatible artificial bony substitute. In the present paper authors report a case of custom-made cranioplasty for the reconstruction of a large bilateral skull defect, based on advanced computerized tomography data processing and rapid prototyping (stereolithography) techniques.