*3.4. In Vivo Behaviour of the Prostheses*

The adopted procedure for the design of both the prosthesis and the surgery tools (the guiding mask) revealed to be effective since, after the surgery, in all the treated animals there were no side effects noticed in the prothesis area, the reparation of the soft tissue was normal and according to the scarring times; moreover, the body temperature was normal in the post-operative period and all the animals resumed the normal behaviour immediately. ‐ ‐

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The border of the region that was obtained by the ostectomy was then analysed evaluating the presence of thermal damages on the bone and the presence of damages on the other nervous tissue and the dura madre around the ostectomy area. ‐

Both the types of the implant produced using the two investigated processes resulted to fit suitably the anatomy of the specific animal, thus avoiding any modelling of the prosthesis in the surgery room. ‐

In addition, the implanted prostheses revealed to be much thinner than the ones which could be produced by both standard (machining) and innovative (Additive Manufacturing) production technologies, being at the same time enough resistant. ‐

After 3 and 6 months from the surgery, the sheep were sacrificed and the prostheses extracted in order to be analysed. Figure 20 shows one of the prostheses (from one of the 3 months sacrificed sheep) and the bone gusset removed post mortem.

**Figure 20.** Prosthesis and bone gusset removed post mortem.
