Can technology help reconstruct breast tissue?
September 9th, 2011 - 5:22 pm ICT by IANSLondon, Sep 9 (IANS) A technology that helps design buildings, bridges and aircraft is being enlisted to reconstruct breast tissue in cancer patients.
Researchers used computer-aided design (CAD) to create a precise mould of a breast to help aid surgeons in tissue reconstruction operations.
CAD was used to design and produce patient-specific physical scaffolds that could be used with tissue engineering — one of the most promising areas of medicine, the journal Biofabrication reports.
Theoretically, patients’ own cells could be harnessed and grown onto the highly specific scaffold and then transferred to the affected area, according to a statement of the Institute of Physics, Britain.
It would do away with the need to transfer tissue from other parts of the body which can cause large scars, huge blood loss and require five to 10 hours of anaesthesia.
Study co-author Dietmar Hutmacher from the Queensland University of Technology, Australia, said: “We would take a laser scan of the healthy breast and use the CAD modelling process to design a patient-specific scaffold.”
The Institute of Physics (IOP) under whose sponsorship the project was undertaken, is a scientific charity devoted to increasing the practice, understanding and application of physics.
- Scientists devise safer way to reconstruct breasts - Dec 07, 2011
- New anti-wrinkle biomaterial mimics human tissue - May 30, 2011
- Increased use of Computer-aided detection in mammography - Oct 02, 2010
- Breast reconstruction helps women regain sexual wellness - Oct 24, 2011
- Now, print instant meals to tackle hunger - Dec 26, 2010
- Customised bone replacements to uplift facial surgery - Jul 13, 2010
- Ready-to-use bioengineered veins expand off-the-shelf vessels options - Feb 03, 2011
- Stem cells help women regrow breasts after surgery - Feb 20, 2011
- Reconstructive surgery takes engineering cue for facelift - Jul 13, 2010
- 'Bioprinter' to create human organs - Jun 05, 2010
- Synthetic windpipe transplanted for first time - Jul 08, 2011
- Synthetic protein to help regenerate new tissues - Sep 11, 2011
- AIIMS urged not to use animals for medical training - Jan 17, 2012
- Fashion institute set up to revive silk sector of Sualkuchi - Mar 26, 2011
- A clock 100-fold more accurate than its atomic cousins - Mar 11, 2012
Tags: anaesthesia, blood loss, breast tissue, cad modelling, cancer patients, co author, computer aided design, design buildings, institute of physics, laser scan, physics iop, promising areas, queensland university of technology, queensland university of technology australia, scaffold, scaffolds, scars, tissue engineering, tissue reconstruction, university of technology