The implants were used for Lin’s cranioplasty surgery in July last year.
SINGAPORE (The Straits Times/Asia News Network): When Danny Lin fell in a carpark in November 2020, he injured his head so badly that he could remember only slipping into a coma for about 10 days.
The memory of how the incident happened was completely wiped clean.
“The next moment, when I woke up, the doctors told me that there was some swelling in my brain and that I needed a craniotomy,” the 46-year-old headhunter told The Straits Times.
A craniotomy is an operation which involves temporarily removing parts of the skull to ease pressure on the brain due to swelling or bleeding.
Recalling the first day Lin was admitted to hospital, his doctor, Assistant Professor Sein Lwin, a visiting consultant neurosurgeon at National University Hospital, said he found a small blood clot in the right side of the brain.
“He was slowly losing consciousness,” noted Prof Sein. “So we repeated the scan, and the clot grew bigger.”
This was because the swelling led to pressure building up within the brain, he added.
Bruises were also seen on both sides of the brain due to the impact of the injury, said Prof Sein.
To relieve this pressure, two bone flaps in the skull were removed to help reduce swelling.
Luckily for Lin, the swelling came down in about a week.
“Only 40 per cent of patients fully recover from such injuries and can resume normal activities, while the majority still end up bed-bound. So he’s really lucky,” said Prof Sein.
Continue reading… “3D printed bone implants give patient new lease of life after head injury”
