Patient Receives 3-D Printed Skull after Traumatic Brain Injury

After two months in a coma, Chris Cahill woke up confused about where he was and what had happened to him. Cahill was found unconscious from unknown trauma resulting in severe injuries to his frontal lobe, with brain swelling so dramatic it was life threatening. Physicians performed emergent surgery to relieve the brain swelling with the intent of replacing the skull after the swelling subsided. However, the patient's own skull was infected and as a result was unusable. At that point, the doctor...