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3D Printed Titanium Vertebrae Restores a Woman’s Damaged Spine in India
March 7, 2017
Most people know tuberculosis as a disease of the lungs, but that’s not always the case. For a 32-year-old woman in India, the disease manifested in her spine – in 10 different vertebrae, thanks to a lowered immune system caused by drugs she was taking for infertility. Her condition deteriorated quickly; the disease caused such extensive damage to her first, second and third cervical vertebrae that she no longer had any support between her skull and lower spine.
As a result, the woman’s head was sliding forward and her posture curved in a way that obstructed her spinal cord, resulting in progressive weakness in her limbs. She was also at risk of quadriplegia and even death, if her respiratory nerves were to become compressed. If you’re shuddering at this point, you’re not alone, but this young woman is going to be just fine, as impossible as that sounds.
Read Rest of Story – Source: For the First Time in India, 3D Printed Titanium Vertebrae Restore a Woman’s Damaged Spine | 3DPrint.com