The Doctor Is In: Medical Uses For 3D Printing

The marvel of 3D printing continues to amaze…
Let’s face it, it’s hard to talk about 3D printing without bringing up the Star Trek replicator. “Tea! Earl Grey! Hot!” said Captain Picard, getting his wish granted onboard a ship out where no one had gone before, far from tea routes.
With that in mind, the first 3D printers were less than impressive in comparison. While it’s early days for this technology, the fact is that there are already some impressive uses for 3D printing here today, especially when it comes to medicine. The cost-saving nature of 3D printing could also be a game changer in third world countries; one step towards this is a digital library for open-source designs from researchers at Michigan Technological University. Starting with a syringe pump, each design from the digital library can be customised as needed and 3D-printed on-site for no more than the cost of the filament.
Here are some other examples of how 3D printing is advancing medicine, and how we may not be too far off life on the Starship Enterprise after all.
Bone replacements for cancer patients
Earlier this year, a surgeon used 3D technology from Stanmore Implants in Elstree to recreate a pelvis for a patient who had lost his to cancer. CT and MRI scans were used to determine the exact shape of the new bone which could then be made more precisely with a 3D printer than the standard methods. “It’s quite easy with a complex organ such as the pelvis to get lost and take too much or too little bone. Using surgical navigation technology means you can cut the bone exactly where you planned to cut,” surgeon Craig Gerrand told ‘The Daily Telegraph’.
Touchable photographs for the blind
Those of us who have sight take for granted how we can flick back through albums or Instagram to revisit events, so imagine what it could mean for someone to have this opportunity for the first time? This was the idea when Spanish creative agency Lola teamed up with Pirate 3D to create a 3D version of a photograph, enabling a blind person to “feel” what a photo looks like. “There were very long silences while we saw emotions wash over people’s faces as if they were being transported in time,” project leader Fred Bosch told ‘FastCompany’. “[One person] even joked that the experience must have been similar to what the first person that saw himself in a photograph felt.”
Soft tissue prosthetics, including eyeballs
Realistic prosthetics are both expensive and time-consuming to make, but British company Fripp Design and Research has discovered a potential solution. Using 3D printing they can produce over 100 prosthetic eyes in just an hour. The company can also print other soft parts like noses and ears, all based on patient scans. Fripp is the first to use 3D technology to print directly in medical-grade silicone. “We create a prosthesis scaffold using a standard colour 3D printer, which we then infiltrate with medical grade silicone,” managing director Tom Fripp told ‘3D Printing Industry’. “To make it as commercially viable as possible, we asked ourselves: ‘Could we print in silicone direct?’ As no such system was available, we started on the journey.”
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