Sara Morales was diagnosed with a rare bone cancer called not just once, but twice. The first time, the tumor was growing in her right knee. After undergoing cancer treatment, a knee replacement, and rehabilitation, she soon found out she had a new growth, this time in her pelvis. Her doctors鈥攐rtho-oncologist , and plastic surgeon 鈥攔ealized that traditional surgery to remove the deadly tumor could leave Morales, an otherwise healthy 34-year-old, unable to walk after surgery, since the pelvis bears so much body weight. Instead, the doctors turned to three-dimensional technology.
This technology allowed the surgeons to create a customized, three-dimensional map of Morales鈥檚 pelvic bone and surrounding tissue, limiting potential damage. They created cutting guides to perfect reconstruction of the bone鈥攗sing her fibula to replace the void in her pelvis. 鈥淵ou get precision here that鈥檚 unparalleled,鈥 Dr. Saadeh tells the New York Daily News. Just six months later, Morales was walking again.