UCT engineers contribute to groundbreaking surgery

April 2012 News

Two University of Cape Town engineers and a surgeon have adapted simple mechanical engineering principles to develop groundbreaking maxillo-facial surgery. The team uses a plate guided distractor (a hose clamp made to work as a crawler on a track) to grow new bone in the upper jaw of patients with large surgical defects.

UCT’s groundbreaking team comprises maxillo-facial surgeon Dr Rushdi Hendricks, mechanical engineer Dr George Vicatos, and master’s student James Boonzaier. This benchmarking surgery was performed on two patients in 2011 and was a resounding success. For years, surgeons worldwide have been applying a technique to regenerate bone in the lower jaw where if a surgeon carefully severs the bone and pulls it apart, new bone and tissue will grow to fill the gap. Until now, this surgery was not possible on the more complicated upper jaw.

In recognition of the new technology, Popular Mechanics named Vicatos and the team South Africa’s Inventor of the Year in 2011.

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