By Megan Gorrey
Mark Robinson missed biting into an apple after an aggressive skin cancer marching swiftly across his face meant surgeons had to remove his nose and part of his jaw.
Robinson, 69, of Jamberoo, says the drastic surgery to banish the squamous cell carcinoma initially robbed him of the ability to eat solid food and left hollows in his face he had to cover with masks.
Doctors and researchers used 3D printing technology to reconstruct Mark Robinson’s face after cancer surgery. Credit: Wolter Peeters
“It was COVID and everyone was masked up, so it was probably not a bad time to be without a beak for a while,” Robinson said.
Robinson’s appearance and facial functions have been largely restored after doctors in Sydney harnessed 3D printing technology to create a magnetic clip-on prosthetic nose and partial denture.
“I walked outside after the nose was fitted and thought, how good’s this? I’d been given a sense of freedom again. I consider myself very fortunate, but not without the help of many people,” he said.
His reconstructed face is a product of the team at Chris O’Brien Lifehouse’s Integrated Prosthetics and Reconstruction laboratory, which Federal Health Minister Mark Butler will open on Wednesday.
The spread of 3D printing technology has been a boon for cancer patients who have lost parts of their faces by offering a quicker, cheaper and more precise way to manufacture prostheses compared to traditional methods. The technology can use computer-aided design to create 3D objects via a layering technique.
Chris O’Brien Lifehouse’s director of research, Professor Lisa Horvath, said doctors and researchers at the newly built laboratory would aim to improve the lives of patients who had surgery for head and neck cancers by reconstructing their facial features to help restore function and a sense of identity.
“When you take apart somebody’s face with a cancer, you then need to reconstruct it,” Horvath said.
“This is about how you reconstruct that in a way that both looks normal – so they look in the mirror, and they recognise themselves – and functionally works, so they can chew, smile and talk properly.”
Doctors say the new research facility will enable other cancer patients to get life-enhancing reconstructive surgery similar to Robinson’s.Credit: Wolter Peeters
Horvath said Chris O’Brien Lifehouse’s rare combination of a cancer hospital and research institute meant doctors and researchers could develop the personalised prosthetics, surgical guides and devices in-house.
“The lab has come out of the clinical practice of the head and neck surgeons, who have identified gaps and things that don’t work as well as they would like, and they have searched for solutions.”
Reconstructive plastic surgeon Dr Joe Dusseldorp was among the team that used 3D printing technology to devise a plan to remove Robinson’s cancer, and to rebuild his nose and teeth.
“Mark’s was one of the first [cases] where we have used the new 3D capabilities. We used virtual surgical planning to come up with a solution that could reconstruct the nose by giving us titanium abutments for a magnetically attached nose, as well as fixtures for a partial denture,” he said.
He said individualised 3D-printed components improved accuracy and wait times and replaced traditional techniques that used a person’s skin, cartilage or bone to reconstruct facial features.
Dusseldorp said the titanium implant which allowed Robinson’s prosthesis to attach to his face was conceptualised using 3D printing technology but had to be manufactured by an external company.
“More people will have access to the care that Mark’s received, and it could be done for patients in a shorter timeframe because we don’t have the lag times of having to ship things from international locations – we’re doing it at the point of care.”
Horvath said the laboratory would focus primarily on research, and any devices produced there would need to be subject to clinical trials before they could be widely replicated.
“At the moment, it is a research facility of innovative, multidisciplinary research, but down the track these are the sorts of things you could potentially roll out to people beyond clinical trials.”
Butler said the newly built facility, supported by the Walker Family Foundation, would help to significantly improve health outcomes for people living with cancer in NSW and beyond.
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