Unconventional Applications of Cad: Breast Reconstruction

Term Paper 1

Unconventional Application of CAD – Breast Reconstruction

Ankit Gupta

Introduction

Computer-Aided-Design (CAD) is defined as the use of computer systems to assist in the creation, modification, analysis, or optimization of a design. CAD software is used to increase the productivity of the designer, improve the quality of design, improve communications through documentation, and to create a database for manufacturing (Narayan, 2008). Due to the constant advancements in computing and rapid manufacturing, especially in the past decade, individuals in various professional fields have been able to effectively utilize CAD to not only enhance and improve on their existing workflows and procedures, but also to achieve the unthinkable. Traditionally, the utilisation of CAD has been limited to providing assistance in engineering design and modelling for representation, analysis, and manufacturing. However, recent advances in information technology and especially in biomedicine have led to many novel and meaningful biomedical applications of of CAD, particularly tissue reconstruction and engineering in which CAD based bio-tissue informatics model provides critical information of tissue biological, biophysical, and biochemical properties for modelling, design, and fabrication of complex tissue substitutes (Sun, 2005).

This paper will carefully examine the procedure and value-add of CAD techniques in autologous tissue reconstruction of breasts. Furthermore, this paper will also examine the utilisation of CAD to create customized scaffolds for breast tissue engineering. In the process, the paper will bring forward the salient features of CAD-assisted tissue reconstruction and engineering as well as its drawbacks and limitations.

In CAD/CAM-Assisted Breast Reconstruction, an article published in Biofabrication, the team reports on two distinct unconventional applications of CAD in the biomedical field,

1. Design and fabrication of a customised breast mould that was employed an an intra-operative aid for the surgeon performing autologous tissue reconstruction of the breast removed due to cancer
2. Design and fabrication of customised scaffolds for breast tissue engineering

The paper indicates the growing positive sentiment in the biomedical field towards the combination of CAD and rapid prototyping. The analysis reveals that this powerful combination has the potential to transform the realm of tissue reconstruction and engineering by allowing for far more accurate surgeries and treatments. While the benefits of CAD assistance in autologous tissue reconstruction are fairly straightforward, simple, and satisfactory, there is a need to focus on developing efficient CAD techniques to develop functional scaffolds for breast reconstruction that present a more accurate and safer alternative to customised breast moulds.