Custom Made Prosthesis

What are
Custom-Made Shoulder Prostheses?

Custom-made or personalized shoulder prostheses refer to the technology of developing prosthetic implants for joint replacement that uses the patient’s specific anatomical references to optimize their positioning and fixation, responding to the individualized needs of each case.

How are custom prosthetics produced?


Customized prostheses in the shoulder area can be divided into two groups: customized guides for placement of “standard” implants and fully customized implants.

Customized guides are produced from the three-dimensional reconstruction obtained preoperatively, after calculating the ideal positioning of the implants in the native bone. From there, cutting guides and bone preparation of the joint surfaces, adapted to the anatomy of that patient, allow the implants to be ideally positioned.

Fully customized implants consist of adapted reproductions of the bone anatomy of that specific patient, with a view to correcting certain losses and deformities resulting from the pathology in question.

 

What are the advantages of customized/personalized prosthetics?

Both types of customized prostheses have the advantage of responding to the challenges posed by bone loss and deformities in shoulder arthroplasties. Objectively, they allow more reproducible positioning and in regions of better bone fixation, which appears to increase the survival and function of arthroplasties.

With the development of technology and the reduction in the costs of its use, more optimized solutions for each patient’s anatomy will be available on a more widespread basis, for greater longevity of prostheses and increasingly full shoulder function.