An international team of physicians and medical device engineers made medical history in October 2015 when they successfully designed, manufactured and implanted a titanium sternum and rib cage in a person for the first time.

The groundbreaking surgery was performed at Salamanca University Hospital in Salamanca, Spain. The patient, a 54-year-old man, had lost his sternum and some of his rib cage to cancer. While he might have survived without the bones, his quality of life would have been diminished and he would have been vulnerable to injury. However, replacing the bones with prosthetics would not be easy. That part of the chest is difficult to recreate due to the complex geometry of the bones and the unique size and shape of each person.