Investigation of structural parameters in custom made cranial implants: Application of finite element analysis

Cranioplasty is a surgical procedure for repairing skull defects. These defects can be caused by congenital defects, diseases, accidents, infections or tumors. Cranioplasty, ensuring the integrity of the skull, not only improves the patient's appearance and consequently improves the the patient's self-confidence, but also balances intracranial pressure and protects the brain, thereby reducing the negative consequences of the defect. The development of computer aided design and 3D printing technologies enabled the design and manufacture of custom-made cranioplasty implants. Compared to intraoperative cranioplasty surgery, custom-made implants have many advantages. These can be summarized as decreased operation time and complexity, increased surgical accuracy, better cosmetic results. Within the scope of the thesis, custom-made cranial implant was made, and the skull – implant assembly was analyzed using calculation simulations based on the finite element method. The effect of the implant material and the holes on the implant to deformation and stress, which effects the mechanical performance of the implants, were investigated on two different implant sizes. In this study, it was observed that as the hole diameter on the implant decreased, the deformation and stress values of the implant increased. In addition, it was observed that the deformation values of the implants increased as the defect size increased and the deformation values of the implant decreased as the elasticity modulus of the implant material increased.