3D Printing Enables Medical Models with Blood, Guts & All

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3D printing has been aiding doctors prepare for numerous surgeries by providing highly-detailed, patient specific models to better inform surgeons before entering the operating room. As accurate as these models have been, some even including color-coded regions to illustrate various organs or problem areas, they have yet to fully replicate the texture of real human tissues. Japanese 3D printing firm Fasotec, previously covered on 3DPI and subsequently purchased by Stratasys, is changing that by creating highly realistic surgical models with 3D printing.

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Scientists Build MicroSLA 3D Printing System for Mass Production of Nerve Repair Guides

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While AM in mechanical mass production (especially in the aerospace sector) is seeking larger build sizes, the opposite is true for the medical field. Here it will be the extremely small and complex parts that will drive the adoption of 3D printing technologies in mass production. One example is the Nerve Guidance Conduits (CNG) developed by a team of scientists through the use of a MicroStereolithography (MicroSLA or µSL) system.

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Complex Separation of Conjoined Twins Successfully Planned with 3D Printing

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We’ve covered many stories in which 3D printing has aided in the planning of surgeries, with patient-specific, 3D printed models cutting surgery time drastically by providing doctors with a detailed visual representation of the areas in which they are about to operate.  Today, however, we report on the first time that the practice has been implemented in the risky procedure of separating conjoined twins.

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High-Schoolers Gift Two-Year-Old with a 3D Printed Hand

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Students at Brenham High School have, literally, given a hand to a two-year-old boy named Kaedon, The San Francisco Globe reports. Kaedon suffers from amniotic band syndrome, a syndrome caused by a fetus becoming entangled in fibrous string-like amniotic bands in the womb. As a result of this syndrome, Kaedon was born with his right hand not fully formed. When Kaedon’s mother, Jeannette Olson, heard that the local high school had a 3D printer, she decided to see if they could help her child.
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Another Heart Mended with a 3D Printed Surgical Model

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Mina Khan was born with a broken heart. Specifically, she had a large hole between her ventricles. This defect prevented the normal circulation of blood through her heart chambers and lungs, leaving the little girl constantly exhausted. Mina could not put on weight, and her hair would not grow. She needed a miracle, and the challenge to save her life was accepted by an innovative team of surgeons at St. Thomas Hospital in London, and a 3D printer.

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Prosthetic Allows Teen to Play Guitar with 3D Printed Purpose

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Let it be known that a physical disability has never prevented the determined musician from pursuing their passion. My preferred example is history’s greatest guitarist, Django Reinhardt, who, after a fire paralyzed the third and fourth fingers on his left hand, used only his index and middle fingers to be one of the fastest, yet most elegant jazz guitarist the world has ever known.

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Trachea 3D Printed with Ordinary MakerBot PLA

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We may await the day that 3D bioprinting is ubiquitous practice, but MakerBot and The Feinstein Institute for Medical Research have proven that we may not have to wait that long.  Using ordinary MakerBot PLA filament, the Feinstein researchers were able to create custom scaffolding on which living cells were cultured for a tracheal implant.  The results of the research were presented at the the 51st Annual Meeting of The Society of Thoracic Surgeons in San Diego by Feinstein investigator Todd Goldstein.

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