Methods and systems for producing an implant

Abstract

A computer implemented method for determining the 3-dimensional shape of an implant to be implanted into a subject includes obtaining a computer readable image including a defective portion and a non-defective portion of tissue in the subject, superimposing on the image a shape to span the defective portion, and determining the 3-dimensional shape of the implant based on the shape that spans the defective portion.

1 . A method of fabricating a medical device, the method comprising:
 obtaining data regarding a shape of the medical device, wherein the shape is determined by:
 (a) rendering a computer-based three-dimensional representation of a target tissue from computer readable image data of the target tissue wherein the target tissue comprises a portion with a defect and a portion without a defect; 
   (b) mapping an external surface of the computer-generated three-dimensional representation of the target tissue;   (c) superimposing onto the mapped external surface a three-dimensional template to span the defective portion by altering the shape of the three-dimensional template to fit at least a portion of the mapped external surface; and   (c) determining the shape of the medical device based on the shape of the altered three-dimensional template that spans the defective region to obtain the data regarding the shape of the medical device; and   fabricating the medical device at least partially based on using the obtained data regarding the shape of the medical device.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the image data is obtained from image slices of the target tissue. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the image data is obtained as one or more voxels of the target tissue. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the medical device is an implant to be implanted in a subject. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein fabricating the medical device comprises three-dimensional printing at least a portion of the device.