Release date: 2015-03-26

While manufacturers of professional 3D printing equipment are deliberately developing 3D printing technology for dental users, their application in non-dental medical fields is entering a new and rapid development period.

Close up of 3D printed heart

Health care is the topic of ongoing discussion today, but health care is not all about policy. Treatment and technological innovation are revolutionizing people's medical care, although some methods are either difficult to keep up with, or far removed from the goal of improving lives or saving lives. Now, with the rapid growth of the auxiliary manufacturing industry (the increasingly popular technologies often refer to 3D printers), the future of the healthcare industry is progressing in a familiar and compelling way.

While manufacturers of professional 3D printing equipment are deliberately developing 3D printing technology for dental users, their application in non-dental medical fields is entering a new and rapid development period.

3D printing: a model for personalized medicine

Don't be confused by her purple 3D print prosthesis, she is a hardcore fan of Captain America.

In the manufacturing context, 3D printed medical applications are quite unique compared to other popular industries such as aerospace and automotive. why? The answer is clear, human elements are embodied in all health care applications, and spending is a secondary concern compared to successful outcomes that save human life or significantly improve the quality of human life.

However, according to our recent ten-year projections in this field, there is an extremely strong synergy in the field of digital 3D design, medical imaging and 3D printing. The mutual promotion of the three is the power to solve medical problems, and doctors can pass the patient's own data. Capture (result), operate, and ultimately use 3D printing technology to apply physical solutions of any shape and size. Without such technology, personalized medicine is difficult to achieve because patients need unique components that can be easily and quickly manufactured.

3D printing technology has the potential to influence millions of people through a variety of revolutionary medical solutions, especially two of the most interesting areas: surgery and other difficult health conditions.

Reforming the surgical approach

In today's operating room, although doctors can easily apply the lessons learned in one operation to other operations, the use of 3D printing in the operating room is generally limited to relatively few types of surgery. For example, cutting-edge case studies on the use of 3D printed medical models are rapidly attracting attention, such as two-year-old Mina? This technique was used by Mina Khan and the heart model she used, which allowed surgeons to build custom implant hearts to repair her ventricular defects.

Surgeons recognize that 3D printing technology can reduce surgery time, reduce the risk of errors or complications, and provide better results for patients by using 3D printed surgical models and tools – efforts to achieve facial transplantation today This is obvious.

Professional 3D printers now use a variety of textured, transparent, and flexible photocurable resins, so surgeons can plan complex surgeries based on CT scans of patients' bones, blood vessels, or other organs before surgery begins. 3D printed electronic documents for operational research. For operations involving interrupting or drilling into bone structures, such as squat surgery, total knee arthroplasty, or other joint-related procedures, 3D printing is also perfectly suited for printed custom reference and tools.

Using medical imaging and 3D modeling techniques, doctors can now also use 3D printers to build temporary tools that can be fixed to the patient's bone structure, providing a precise "blueprint" for remodeling the skeleton, perfectly adapting to standard size implants. Into the device. Custom printed drill guides ensure that the screws are placed accurately to ensure proper fit to the patient's body.

Within a decade, 3D printed medical models and customized surgical guides are likely to be the standard procedure for many surgeries, including cardiac surgery, sacral surgery, total knee arthroplasty, hip replacement, intracranial implantation, , shoulder surgery, spinal surgery or more.

A young Sol is clutching the warhammer with his printed prosthesis

Let the incurable rule become curable

One of the most exciting results of the rapidly evolving 3D printing medical approach is that it can help previously hopeless patients, whether economically or under certain conditions. Millions of people around the world are unable to undergo critical surgery. Now, in some cases, 3D printing is helping people eliminate those obstacles.

There is a peculiar phenomenon when installing prosthetic hands and artificial brachial artery (below the elbow). In terms of total market capitalization, most medical equipment companies do not increase the need for such prosthetics. Traditional artificial brachial arteries are very expensive, and in general each product costs between $10,000 and $20,000, or even more. Prosthetics will gradually withdraw from widespread use, and if the patient is still young and still growing, a prosthetic limb is unrealistic—especially when the patient has to rely on another functional limb. None of the 1,000 people and ten of them can live a better life with the help of artificial bones, but they can't enjoy a viable solution at the moment.

However, 3D printing is changing this situation - changing rapidly.

In the past two years, a large number of fully customized functional prostheses have emerged, even with the cheapest 3D printers. According to the experience of volunteer groups including e-Nable in contact with printing equipment and those who need prosthetics, the total cost of these prostheses (including materials) is only a few hundred dollars.

This is a 3D printed model that is planned for facial transplantation.

Even for people without 3D printers, it is possible to have functional prosthetic hands – including those whose prostheses are not suitable for growing bodies in just a few months, and who have suffered in childhood. Now, with a printer, you can print new prosthetics for children within 24 hours. Moreover, these prostheses fully realize "private ordering". Now, many children are thrilled to have fake limbs that mimic their favorite superheroes.

Implantation with 3D printed hips and spine, while still occupying a tiny fraction of the entire implant market, is another great example of a cure for incurable disease.

Professional medical transplant providers are using industrial printers to create custom implants for patients, otherwise it is difficult for those patients to find a way to implant them in the traditional way. As the population ages and the physical function of the elderly is deteriorating, it is unlikely that their hips will undergo two or even three surgeries. Manufacturing professional implants through 3D printing is often the only way to hopefully cure patients for long periods of time.

What is next?

In addition to proven methods such as models, surgical guides and implants, engineers are exploring more experimental and potentially life-changing approaches.

The current state of skeletal stents has remained largely unquestioned for decades. Traditional fiberglass jackets require professional wear and wear, and their bloated design and dryness constraints greatly affect everyday life. The elegant 3D print holder will soon break this situation, because the patient can quickly open the closure bracket in a few seconds, while the material allows the skin to breathe without rot and break down, overcoming the major drawbacks of traditional fiberglass jackets. The device's ability to easily and quickly remove and dissipate saves 90% of the appointment time between fracture patients and specialists. At the same time, the lightweight and close-fitting design allows the wearer to live more freely during normal life.

The 3D printing health care program still needs to be improved. When the patella prosthetic technique develops rapidly, the leg prosthesis still faces serious 3D printing challenges: the use of the most readily available printers and printed materials alone does not meet the growing need for prosthetic legs. The custom 3D printing "cover" is essentially a beautification of traditional metal prosthetic legs, which may be the only area where 3D printing can improve the prosthetic leg. But the potential for future innovation in this or other areas is limitless.

It is the innovators of medical design who are willing to jump out of conventional thinking, and 3D printing can drive the transformation of health care. 3D printed medical applications are at the beginning of the experimental phase or at the forefront of reforming medical practice with the following three points: to be able to treat more patients who were previously incurable; to give patients better curative effect; Less direct care time. This is the future of the healthcare industry – 3D printing allows doctors to treat more patients and take less risk. (Author: Scott Dunham Translation: You Heng first review: Dong Zichen曦)

About the author: Scott? Scott Dunham is a senior analyst at SmarTech Markets Publishing, a company specializing in assistive manufacturing and 3D printing. Dunham is a frequent speaker at the worldwide 3D printing industry event and will be attending the April 1 Additive Disruption Summit and the May 19th RAPID Conference. He published this article on Live Science.

Source: Global Science

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