Scientists in London are using 3D printed replicas of tumours and organs, called ‘phantoms’, to show how drugs will pass through tumours and give them a better understanding of how that will be replicated in individual patients. Amy Pollock reports Video provided by Reuters.
Investigators at The Feinstein Institute for Medical Research have made a medical breakthrough using 3D printing on a MakerBot Replicator 2X Experimental 3D Printer to create cartilage designed for tracheal repair or replacement.
Derby is a dog who was born with malformed front legs. Unsatisfied with the currently-available wheeled options to assist disabled dogs, Derby’s owner sought additional help. The result was a set of custom designed, 3D printed prosthetic legs that allow Derby to run and play, just like any normal dog.
Though, in the past, traditional manufacturing has been used to create custom implants, 3D printing has a far greater capacity for making complex and elaborate shapes, without the need for manual work performed by surgeons in the midst of a procedure. 3D printing, then, can save time and money during the production of personal implants. Combined with the benefits of tailoring custom implants to the exact specifications of an individual’s anatomy using medical scans, 3D printing stands to revolutionize the medical industry. In August of this year, manufacturer of high-performance biocompatible 3D printing materials Oxford Performance Materials was able to gain FDA approval for its 3D printed facial implants. Now, on the other side of the world, the EU has passed their own approval of 3D printed cranial implants.
Oreo is a Canadian dog living a pretty good life… well, now he is. A little more than three years ago, the pup dislocated his left hind knee cap (patella). That’s a pretty painful condition to be in, and the injury was bad enough that the patella was surgically removed. That solved one problem — a patella can’t be dislocated if it isn’t there at all — but created a new one as Oreo then walked with a limp that would never go away.
The capabilities of 3D printing have enabled many individuals to live more fulfilling lives. We have seen literally hundreds of 3D printed prosthetic hands, thanks to organizations such as E-nabling The Future, and designers are constantly striving to reach new heights in the creation of a variety of other types of prosthetic limbs. There will eventually come a time when technology converges with biology to give us all superhuman capabilities if we choose. I’m certainly not suggesting that people will be running to their surgeons in order to have their limbs amputated in favor of some new mechanical or even 3D printed device; however, those with missing limbs today may soon be more capable then typical able bodied individuals. Or is this already happening as we speak?
A prosthetic human heart which is “as close as you can get” to the real organ has been made using a new 3D printing technique, Nottingham university said.
The heart’s creator, Richard Arm, said the silicone gel model mimics not only the texture of a real heart, but its inner workings and structure.
The Medicrea group, a company that specializes in the development of innovative surgical technologies for the treatment of complex spinal pathologies, today announced that a surgeon in Lyon, France has performed the world’s first spinal fusion surgery using customized spine cages created with a 3-D printer.
According to the United States Renal Data System, End-Stage Renal Disease resulted in over 90,000 deaths in 2009. Solving the problem has been difficult at best as treatment options aimed at dealing with renal disease are basically limited to organ transplantation or dialysis.
3D printed cranial implants are not new, and the approval process has been a long one. Back in 2013 a cranial implant made news when the FDA approved the surgery on a US patient with an opaque material, and another was achieved using transparent resin on a Dutch patient. But this application of 3D printing is easily one of the most amazing — and one that makes a huge difference to people’s lives. Now a new case has emerged of the first cranial prosthesis 3D printed in Trabecular Titanium and implanted in a patient in Argentina.
The BIOFABRIS is a National Institute of S&T in Biomanufacturing of multidisciplinary,
located at the Chemical Engineering Campus of UNICAMP, character that aims to integrate computational tools, synthesis and development of new biomaterials and application of engineering techniques to obtain biomedical devices (prostheses and orthopedic orthoses) and substitutes for live biological tissues or defective or missing human organs.