A dog receives a titanium skull plate printed in 3D following a cancer surgery

The veterinary college did not disclose the cost of the procedure.

Patches, Daschund, 9 years old, had an unusually large tumor in her brain that would have been fatal if she was not treated.

Danielle Dymeck, the dog's owner, is delighted that the operation has been a success, even though Patches now has a crooked ear.

"We called her our little unicorn because she had that bump on her head, but it would have killed her".

"It's pretty amazing what they did for my daughter."

Nine-year patches undergoes the innovative procedure with Dr. Michelle Oblak, a veterinary oncologist surgeon at the Ontario Veterinary College, after the tumor became so big that she began to approach dangerously of the cerebral and ocular cavity of the dog. like weighing his head.

Previous surgical procedures on dogs such as patches involved removing the tumor and part of the skull and replacing it with a titanium mesh. This time, the experts went further: they modeled the skull fees and then created them on a 3D printer.

The patches had this tumor removed.

"I've been able to do the operation even before entering the operating room," said Oblak, taking the small 3D model of Patches, with the detachable model of the tumor.

"They felt that she could recover," Ms. Dymeck said. "Cancer research, as they do, is very important for humans and animals."

The dog had to remove part of the skull. They then traced where a 3D printed replacement would fit, with the location of the holes for the screws to hold it in place.

This meant that the vet could determine the size of the part of the skull removed and send the dimensions to a 3D medical printing specialist to create the plaque.

The operation took four hours. Within 30 minutes of waking, the dog was walking outside to take a break in the bathroom, said Dr. Oblak.

Patches is now cancer free – although in a separate incident a week after the surgery, she had a poorly slipped disc in her back that left here paralyzed hind legs.

The Ontario Veterinary College detailed the procedure Monday, claiming that the surgical use of plaque is a first in North America. Oblak said researchers in the UK had done something similar, but on a "substantially" smaller scale.