Hadassah’s pioneering 3D surgery restores soldier’s shattered knee
Hadassah doctors have successfully reconstructed a soldier’s knee surgically using a 3D printer and a bone taken from his pelvis, a complicated injury during an intense battle in Gaza, resulting in the complete shattering of the knee.
Professor Yoram Weil and Shilo
Shilo, a soldier in the Givati Brigade and a cadet in the Officers’ School, was sent to the Gaza envelope when the war broke out on October 7.
He recalled, “We spent Shabbat at the base, and early Saturday morning, we were whisked to the Gaza envelope communities. Like everyone else, we didn’t realise the magnitude of the incident at first, with many unclear issues.”
After about two weeks of fighting in the Gaza envelope communities and a month of training, the soldiers entered the Gaza Strip. There, they cleared houses and conducted numerous searches. Shilo described the challenging fighting in the crowded Jabaliya neighbourhood, where a large civilian population was mixed in with terrorists.
Shilo recalled a critical moment during a mission: “I tried to open the door and felt a slight resistance. I identified a barrel, making it difficult to open the door. I asked the commander for permission to shoot, and I started firing into the room. Immediately, they fired back at us.” Shilo’s partner was wounded, and during the retreat, Shilo was shot in the leg, ending up alone in the alley as terrorists continued firing at him.
After successfully rescuing himself, with his comrades providing covering fire, he was swiftly evacuated by helicopter to Hadassah Medical Centre. “Throughout the helicopter ride, I remained conscious. The pain in my leg was excruciating, and I feared I might lose it, but I felt a comforting presence as if someone were holding my hand. My friends stayed by my side until I arrived at the hospital.”
Shilo’s injury was severe, and there was genuine concern about its functionality. A bullet had penetrated his leg, shattering his knee, and on arriving at Hadassah Ein Kerem’s Orthopedic Trauma Unit, he immediately received treatment and underwent surgery.
Utilising a 3D printer from Stratasys, the surgeons planned and constructed an accurate model of his shattered knee based on the unaffected second knee.
