Conventional middle ear prosthetic prosthetics, including total ossicular replacement prostheses (TORPs) and partial ossicular replacement prostheses (PORPs) are expensive, require large inventories for otologic surgery services, and carry the risk of extrusion or rejection. Autologous bone and cartilage can be used for many of these applications, but it requires expensive operating room time for carving to the appropriate shape and size.
The above considerations led to the concept of subtractive 3D CAD/CAM (computer assisted design/computer assisted manufacture) to produce accurate bone and cartilage autografts on demand in the operating room. Such a technology is hypothesized to save money by reducing operating room time, and reducing the need for expensive inventories of various shapes, sizes, and types of prosthetic devices. Since autologous materials are hypothesized to be less likely to extrude or cause other problems such as infection, this could also reduce costs.
