Shield for the brain, peace for the mind

For three months, the St Agnes mother-of-two faced putting on a cumbersome athletics helmet to defend her brain when she went out in community.

In its place, she was capable to have on a “fashion beanie”.

Mrs McAlpine was the initial patient to trial the new SkullPro, a device produced by Australian producer Anatomics and now released globally.

Neurosurgeon Dr Adam Wells had carried out Mrs McAlpine’s first decompressive hemicraniectomy and, later, the reconstructive cranioplasty to replace the skull. He had been functioning with Anatomics on the device – a slender, contoured alternative to a helmet, matched to the specific patient to give an aesthetic go over for skull deformities.

SkullPro has a slender, tricky nylon shell, which sits inside a hypo-allergenic material pocket held in put with a beanie, to go over the patient’s skull defect.

For Mrs McAlpine, 36, it was a welcome option in a tough time as she and partner Craig, and kids Isla, 8, and Liam, 5, dealt with her condition.

“Rebecca essential anything to defend her brain even though the skull piece was out for three months,” Mr McAlpine mentioned.

“She liked it substantially much better than the option of anything like a bicycle helmet. My brother had a marriage ceremony at the time, and she likely would not have absent if she had to have on a cumbersome helmet so, psychologically, it was extremely very good for her. It was like a silky beanie, searching like style have on somewhat than protective have on, and she felt she could go out in community without having becoming stared at.”

Mrs McAlpine has had a slow but steady restoration considering the fact that the operation to restore her skull final November, which includes a short while ago getting her driver’s licence back again.

“I was extremely joyful with the SkullPro,” she mentioned.

Dr Wells mentioned the most significant gains of SkullPro were being psychological.

“The stigma affiliated with putting on the aged, substantial helmets our individuals used to have on was not extremely good,” he mentioned.

“Now they have the option of a slender and trim device which gives just as substantially security but can be hidden beneath a hat or a wig.”

Anatomics spokesman Gibran Maher mentioned the firm had a short while ago received a $1m grant to establish the up coming technology of SkullPro.

That would “allow advanced distant checking of the brain during recovery”.