3D print tech involved in Beijing axis surgery

A photo shows a 3D-printed cervical vertebra model. [File Photo: qlwb.com.cn]

A hospital in Beijing has finished the world's first axis surgery on a boy using a 3D-printed titanium alloy replacement.

12-year-old Ming Hao was diagnosed with a bone tumor called Ewing sarcoma on his cervical vertebra, mainly on the axis.

The tumour-eroded part of the axis had to be replaced, a procedure that is much more risky without 3-D printing technology.

The printed replacement was inserted during a 5-hour operation.

Ming Hao apparently is already able to stand, with some support, just days after the surgery.