Case 4: 3D Printed Revision Fusion Subtalar Joint with Fixation

Performed in 2018, this was a patient who had an ankle fusion performed by another doctor in the St. Petersburg area. The original surgery failed to alleviate the patient’s pain, so a second operation was done to revise the ankle fusion and add in a hindfoot (subtalar joint) fusion. This ultimately failed. This was then revised a third time without success.

He then presented to Dr. Perler who tried bracing and minimally invasive techniques to avoid another open surgery. Due to the multiple failures of the subtalar joint fusion, Dr. Perler utilized Additive Orthopaedics to 3D print a subtalar graft with a built-in metal to bone interface and fixation hardware.

This was the first graft of its kind and was successfully placed in 2018. Since that case, there are two other similar procedures being planned for late 2019.