New possibilities for the design and manufacturing of bone implants with external and internal functional architecture

Today, patient-specific implants are especially required in consequence of accidents, tumor-resections and innate defects. Up to now, such single parts are mainly produced by casting or machining. This leads to disproportionately high manufacturing time and costs. Additionally, conventional manufacturing technologies are restricted in geometric resolution and complexity. Utilizing the new generative manufacturing technology Direct Laser Forming (DLF) implants for bone substitution with novel internal hollow structures or even scaffolds with defined porosity for optimized bone ingrowth can be produced out of titanium for the first time. These possibilities open up new features of complex implant design considering adapted stiffness, improved bone-implant interface, long-term deposition of genes or cells and s.o.. This paper summarizes basic material properties of DLF-manufactured titanium for implantology purposes and also demonstrates future approaches of integrated design features for medical implants.