Titanium cranioplasty plate made in Thailand used in successful operation in US
Thai innovation shines globally! Lenox Hill Hospital uses Meticuly’s titanium cranial mesh in a groundbreaking US surgery.
A hospital in New York has successfully used a titanium cranioplasty plate in an operation after the product, developed by a Thai advanced medical firm, received approval from the US Food and Drug Administration.
Sumate Chaisoorayakan, co-founder and Chief Strategy Officer at Meticuly Co Ltd, disclosed that Lenox Hill Hospital in New York had performed a skull opening operation for a patient and replaced the removed section with a titanium cranial mesh made by Meticuly late last year.
Sumate stated that the hospital monitored the patient’s condition for a month following the operation and found that the patient showed significant improvement.
He noted that this was the first instance of a cranial mesh produced by a medical device company in Thailand being used in a US hospital, reflecting the international acceptance of Thai medical products for their quality.
Established in 2017, Meticuly specialises in precision 3D printing solutions. Its patient-specific cranial mesh implant is a personalised cranial reconstruction solution designed and manufactured collaboratively by surgeons and engineers to match the unique skull shape of each individual patient.
Meticuly's personalised titanium cranioplasty plate is intended to replace bony voids in the cranial and/or craniofacial skeleton.
Sumate recounted that his firm spent several years obtaining FDA approval for its titanium cranioplasty plates.
He added that titanium cranioplasty plates produced by Meticuly have been used by Thai doctors in over 1,000 cases, which helped instil confidence in the surgeon at Lenox Hill Hospital to use the product. He further mentioned that the hospital was reassured by Meticuly’s ability to personalise the plate to fit the patient’s skull.
Sumate noted that the plates were approved by the National Health Security Office (NHSO) for use with universal healthcare patients in 2023. However, Thai hospitals have not widely used the plates due to the condition that the NHSO will only cover costs for infectious cases.
He concluded that his company would focus on expanding into the US market by seeking FDA approval in ten additional states beyond New York.
