For many, a breast cancer diagnosis is a harrowing moment. Courses of treatment are daunting and pain is impending. One company is trying to add a glimmer of hope to all that, offering a tool that will empower physicians to provide custom reconstructive surgeries.
LATTICE MEDICAL, a start-up in the 3DEXPERIENCE Lab accelerator, has an innovative approach to breast reconstruction. By regenerating a patient’s own adipose tissues, they’re providing surgical solutions not thought possible before.
Breast cancer is the most common cancer in the world, and one of the most common courses of treatment includes a mastectomy. While patients are often satisfied with their reconstructive surgeries afterward – for those who choose to undergo them – the current techniques offered can necessitate multiple painful surgeries.
To answer to this need, LATTICE MEDICAL developed MATTISSE, a bio-resorbable tissue engineering chamber. With a 3D-printed implant, they’re able to offer a natural breast regeneration in a single surgery. After implantation, the implant affixes to the patient’s own tissues, regenerating what was lost in the mastectomy in 3-6 months. The implant itself biodegrades after 18-24 months.
By using a patient’s own tissue and allowing for a natural reconstruction, the surgeries are designed to create a result that is adapted to the individual anatomy of a patient, instead of the one-size-fits-all approach of traditional implants.
MATTISSE represents the kind of technological innovation in the biological sciences that can turn healthcare on its head. Dassault Systèmes encourages the development and use of virtual twins in the healthcare industry, and outside-the-box thinking like LATTICE MEDICAL’s take on reconstructive breast surgeries indicates that this type of revolution in the field is possible.
To design their patient-centric product, the company uses the 3DEXPERIENCE platform from start to finish. They leverage SOLIDWORKS and CATIA for 3D product modeling and customization, requisite aspects of their solution. To carry out biomechanical simulations, LATTICE MEDICAL uses SIMULIA, and scales their production processes with DELMIA.
Incorporating this full suite of solutions has allowed the company to hone in on their scientific processes and enter clinical trials. Last year, LATTICE MEDICAL completed their first successful reconstructive surgery with the MATTISSE implant on a patient in Tbilisi, Georgia. In a further effort to empower patients and physicians with a complete solution for breast reconstruction, LATTICE MEDICAL intends to couple MATTISSE with a digital tool for surgical planning.
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Shoshana is a Senior Communications Manager on the Corporate Publishing team here at Dassault Systèmes. With experience in journalism, marketing, and PR, her work has been published around the world and across the internet.