CT-GENERATED POROUS HYDROXYAPATITE ORBITAL FLOOR PROSTHESIS AS A PROTOTYPE BIOIMPLANT

Hydroxyapatite bioceramic was used for the manufacture of an orbital f loor prosthesis from spiral CT data acquired transaxially at I-mm beam collimation, pitch of 1, and 0.2-mm reconstruction intervals. CT data were converted to vector file format for subsequent prosthesis manufa cture on a stereolithography machine, The orbital floor prosthesis was engrafted onto an acrylic model of the orbit as a qualitative indicat ion of its overall accuracy, High anatomic accuracy was achieved, as d etermined by visual inspection, Cross-hatching of the vector file data allowed a porous internal architecture of the prosthesis. Refinements in chemical structure of the hydroxyapatite bioceramic are expected t o enhance mechanical properties.