Félix, a 10-year-old Austrian who suffered a serious skull injury five weeks ago, had a 3D printed bone prosthesis implanted in Salzburg. He got away with it. A small miracle.
When Félix’s father discovered him unconscious in the forest, his skull split open and bleeding profusely, he inevitably thought the worst. His first instinct was to stop the bleeding and call for help.
Félix, 10, was participating in forestry work in Ulrichshögl, last December in neighboring Bavaria, when the accident occurred. While he was operating a winch, it fell on him, hitting him violently in the head.
Then begins a real race against time against death and anguish.
Felix was quickly airlifted to Austria for treatment at Salzburg University Hospital.
The damage to the skull is very serious. The bone was completely destroyed.
“The skull wound was, in reality, more reminiscent of a gunshot wound, explains neurosurgeon Johannes Pöppe. (The winch that hit the skull) almost exploded the skull and also penetrated the brain. This destroyed the bone so much that we had to not only remove the destroyed part, but also a much larger part in order to relieve the brain and eliminate the brain swelling.”
Very quickly the option of a prosthesis was put forward. And it is the 3D printing laboratory of the university hospital which will produce it. It will be made from a special plastic in close collaboration with the treating doctors and, above all, will be produced extremely quickly.
The implantation of the prosthesis will be scheduled one week after the accident. The only one of its kind in Europe, according to the hospital.
And it was a success.
Monika, Félix’s mother: “When he (opened) his eyes and (came out of) the coma, you don’t know if he still knows you, if he can move, if he’s paralyzed, if he can still talk, nothing. And it was amazing when he opened his eyes and immediately recognized us, was able to talk, was able to move. It was just a miracle for us.”
As the child is still growing, the question is how the prosthesis will behave. But the neurosurgeon is not worried. “Of course, we hope that it will heal perfectly”, he said“that there will be no infections or complications. And that, in a year, we will be able to basically tell him that he doesn’t really need to worry about it anymore, that he will be, hopefully cured without any consequences.”
Since then, Félix has been released from the hospital. He has a long scar that will disappear when his hair grows back.