The "Inside 3D printing" expo, a two-day event held in New York showcased everything from the latest 3D printers and scanners to the ever-broadening spectrum of printing filaments. But hidden away in a conference room were a small array of 3D printed medical apparatuses that are already changing the face of surgery, without all the fanfare of a skull replacement. Dvice reports.
Atop a simple table sit a handful of printed medical models, joints, surgical guides and a few porous, metal semi-spheres. These little marvels, strangely enough, are some of medical 3D printing's greatest success stories to date.
... 3D printing allows for the cheap, easy creation of complex structures, like a sphere with a solid interior and a porous exterior. The solid interior helps the new hip joint sit and function properly, the necessity of any replacement joint.
The porous exterior does something even more. It encourages your existing pelvic bone to grow into and through its Swiss cheese-like holes. And when that happens, something is achieved that is practically unheard of in the world of prosthetics: the replacement hip gets stronger — as if it were a real, healing part of your body. Check out the whole array of under-sung 3D printed medical tools in Dvice's gallery.
Joint replacements have been around for a long time. Most people with conditions such as osteoarthritis can expect good results if they have one. But what about those who have complicated cases or unusual deformities that a standard replacement can't fix? In the past that's meant few options. Now, doctors at Mayo Clinic are using 3D printers to enable customized joint replacement surgeries. Many patients, who were out of luck, can now have a successful surgery and better quality of life.
A short film produced by Filmmaker Brian Federal on the work of Scott Summit, demonstrating how 3D Printing and digital scanning can be used to greatly improve Prosthetic design.
Coming soon: "3D Printing Revolution", a feature length Documentary film on 3D Printing with interviews of the major players in the market.
200 million Europeans suffer from disabling foot and ankle problems. Splints and orthotic insoles are normally made using the traditional manufacturing processes; impression casts, hand crafting etc. These are time consuming, expensive and make repeat prescriptions very difficult to reproduce. prsnlz.me reports.
A-Footprint want to change all that with the help of 3D printing. The European study group, headed up by Glasgow Caledonian University’s Professor Jim Woodburn, received EC backing to the tune of €3.7million ($5.6million) to develop a process to speed up and improve the customisation of orthoses.
Surgeons have employed cutting-edge three-dimensional printing technology to create a prosthetic face for Mr Moger, 60, after cancer surgery removed almost the entire left side of his face — in what is thought to be the first procedure of its kind in Britain.
LiveScience reports on how 3D printing technology has helped replace 75 percent of a patient's skull with the approval of U.S. regulators.
The company announced it had received approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for its skull implant on Feb. 18 — a decision that led to the first U.S. surgical operation on March 4.
3D printing's advantage comes from taking the digitally scanned model of a patient's skull and "printing" out a matching 3D object layer by layer. The precise manufacturing technique can even make tiny surface or edge details on the replacement part that encourage the growth of cells and allow bone to attach more easily.
A designer San Francisco is creating coverings for prosthetic legs using 3D scanning to capture the unique leg shape, offering customizations that have never before been possible. The Telegraph reports.
Scott Summit came up with a new type of cover for prosthetic legs called "fairings." Recreating a unique leg shape by scanning a client's existing leg, the fairings are then built using a 3D printer.
They not only return the lost contour of the body, but also allow for individual design and style, using different patterns and graphics.
The technology may eventually make these kinds of prosthetics more accessible.
Two low-cost, printable prostheses highlight the potential impact 3D printing could have on the quality of life for millions as the technology becomes more accessible around the world. Gizmag reports.
The mechanical fingers were made using a Replicator 2 3D printer and are attached to a brace that is worn over the hand. The fingers are controlled via cables and return bungees, which, while relatively low-tech, provide a functional and comfortable to wear prosthesis. The design can also be scaled for other individuals using Makerware software.
-- A prosthetic hand that could be cheaply created on a 3-D printer for amputees in developing countries:
Manu Print has a unique design that allows users to close and open each finger individually by applying only one tensile force. The hand is purely mechanical and has no electronic parts. Inventor Eric Ronning, a mechanical engineering sophomore, could make the hand's design available on open-source 3-D printing sites such as Thingiverse, where it could be easily replicated for about $20.
Innovation Africa reports on 3D Printing in an article entitled Imaginarium | Tapping into 3D Printing. via @jranck.
One project described here caught my eye. Called Happy Feet, it was one of the contestants in The 3D 4D Challence which took place in London last October. The slogan was “Relieving Poverty Encouraging Innovation.”
Among the contestants were Roy Ombatti and Harris Nyali from University of Nairobi’s Fablab. Their project, Happy Feet, aims to solve the jigger menace in Kenya by using 3d printing to make customised shoes for people suffering from Jigger. Thus a right shoe can be made differently than a left, depending on the level of infestation.
Jiggers are tiny parasites that resemble fleas. They embed themselves in the feet, hands or other exposed body parts of animals, including humans. Serious infestations may lead to severe inflammation leading to loss of toenails, auto amputation of digits, and death may also occur. The risk of secondary infection, such as tetanus, is also high. Jiggers live in dusty conditions and other unhygienic environments, and are generally associated with poverty-stricken populations.
The shoes would be manufactured from reused plastic and would also be recyclable once they are worn out. Apart from the potential help that this project could bring to people affected by the jigger infestation, it can also provide employment for people.
A great article by Russ Banham explaining how 3D printing works for dental fabrication, tailoring prosthetic limbs and "bioprinting"—the production of human organs for transplant.
Dental Fabrication
With dental fabrication, a digitized, intra-oral scan is made of a patient's teeth, uploaded into a computer, and then e-mailed to a dental lab that prints out a new porcelain bridge. The new process means patients no longer have to endure uncomfortable, foul-tasting, and less accurate oral impressions using trays and molding materials. ...
Prosthetic Limbs
"The way most artificial limbs are made hasn't changed much over the years—you take a piece of foam, shave it into a rough approximate of a person's leg, then make a mold and stamp it out," says Scott Summit, an industrial designer and co-founder of Bespoke Innovations, which uses 3D Printing technology to produce customized prosthetics. "We wanted to design and produce something unique and far more personal—to bring greater humanity to people who've experienced a traumatic or congenital limb loss."
Bespoke Innovations manufactures customized prosthetic limb coverings, or "fairings," that perfectly mirror the sculptural symmetry and function of the wearer's remaining limb. ...
Organ Replacement
Perhaps the most disruptive (in a good way) application of 3D Printing in the medical world is "bioprinting"—the production of human organs for transplant.
The technology involves the creation of replacement tissues and organs that are printed layer-by-layer into a three-dimensional structure. The parts are made from the organ recipient's own genetic matter, and precisely match the tissue or organ they replace.
Since these printed organs or tissue are made from the patient's own cells—rather than those of a donated heart or liver, for example—there's little risk of an immune response, which lessens the need for debilitating immunosuppressive drugs.
The breakthroughs in bioprinting have been increasing in frequency. Like the race to the moon in an earlier era, the goal of bioprinting appeared lofty but attainable, and the first commercial 3D bioprinter was developed in 2009 by a bioprinting company called Organovo. ...
The Business of Bioprinting
Researchers from publicly traded Organovo as well as those at universities like Wake Forest, Stanford, and Harvard are collecting data right now proving the viability of 3D bioprinting. Once enough data is collected, the clinical trials process will begin, and at some point in the future, the FDA will rule on whether or not this "therapeutic technology" gets the green light. ...
Ernst Jan Bos, a Dutch medical researcher at VUMC, Amsterdam is using a Ultimaker 3D printer to print 'scaffold' upon which new human body parts may one day be grown. As a specialist in plastic surgery he hopes this technology could be used for facial reconstruction of burn patient. 3ders.org reports.
Using a 3D scanner they scan the body part of patient, then send the file to a Ultimaker 3D printer for printing, afterwards they use it as the basis for creating molds for growing the ear.
Most amputees go through a lot of prosthetics in a lifetime. This can be expensive, especially in the developing world. The Beth Project aims to change that by making a prosthetic that can change along with the human body. FastCompany reports.
The product is aimed particularly at the developing world, where up to 30 million people require prosthetics, according to the World Health Organization.
The issue is not so much about cost--cheap prosthetics exist, and many used ones are donated--but the need for specialists to adjust or replace the sockets. WHO says 180,000 trained staff are needed, and that there’s a current shortage of about 40,000. Outfitting an average prosthetist’s clinic, complete with grinders and vacuum formers, costs $70,000, according to Hill, and that’s before you hire personnel to run it.
"Initially, we were thinking about making a cheaper socket, maybe using 3-D printing, or some other advanced manufacturing technique," Hill says. "But then we found out the real problem was the shortage of trained care. The 40,000 figure really jumped out at us.
A new system is being used by a handful of dentists to scan patients’ teeth and create crowns for them while they wait. A process that normally takes two weeks, now only takes an hour. Singularity Hub reports.
Instead of making a mold and sending it to a lab for scanning, dentists are now using a small camera to scan the misshapen teeth directly. The digitized scan is then sent to an on-site milling machine that carves the crown from a block of porcelain – in about an hour. After about 15 minutes of preparation the crown is ready to be implanted. No need to walk around for two weeks, waiting, with a temporary filling.
Penny Bailey explores a Wellcome Trust-supported project that is changing the way facial prosthetics are made.
... At the University of Sheffield, a team of researchers exploring biomaterials and implants became convinced there must be a way of harnessing 21st-century digital 3D technologies to make the process easier and more comfortable for patients.
Creating fleshlike prostheses, as opposed to porcelain teeth or crowns, posed a unique set of challenges. The material used would have to be strong, flexible and biocompatible (unlikely to trigger a toxic or allergic reaction when inserted into human skin). The colour would have to match the patient's specific skin tone exactly, and the whole prosthesis would need to blend as invisibly as possible into the surrounding face.
Three years on, Fripp Design and Research have come up with a reliable process that got the thumbs-up from their first client (who wishes to remain anonymous), who had her nose removed because of nasal cancer in 2002.
Patient-specific cases require entirely unique parts and apparatuses to be manufactured, and 3D printing is pretty reliable when it comes down to create accurate pieces. stuffmaker reports.
Jaw Implants
In Belgium, Surgeons replaced the infected lower jawbone of an 83-year-old woman with a customized jawbone which would fit the patient’s existing bone structure, nerves and muscles.
Exoskeleton
Emma Lavelle suffers from arthrogryposis multiplex congenital (AMC), a condition which causes contracted joints and muscle weakness. ... Through a 3D printer and ABS plastic, Emma was given an entirely unique apparatus which helps her to move her arms.
Prosthetic Limbs
Through 3D printing, doctors and engineers have introduced entirely unique and stylish prosthetic limb.
Thanks to a tiny exoskeleton that was made possible by 3D printing (video), a toddler with a rare congenital disorder has been given the gift of movement. The Huffington Post reports.
... With the help of 3D printers, also known as additive manufacturing, they were able to create a lightweight -- and customizable -- working prosthetic for Emma.
Lavelle said the mini-exoskeleton has changed her daughter's life.
Now the toddler, who calls her prosthetic her "magic arms," can play and eat independently. Thanks to its customizability and ease of manufacturing, 3D printing is an exciting development for pediatric prosthetics, according to Core77.
The custom exoskeletons are printed in ABS plastic and attached to a plastic vest. Because of the ease of manufacturing, the exoskeleton can grow with the child which makes 3D printing especially exciting for those working in pediatric care.
Prosthetics can’t replicate the look and feel of lost limbs but they can carry a lot of personality. At TEDxCambridge, Scott Summit shows 3D-printed, individually designed prosthetic legs that are unabashedly artificial and completely personal -- from macho to fabulous.
The "
Atop a simple table sit a handful of printed medical models, joints, surgical guides and a few porous, metal semi-spheres. These little marvels, strangely enough, are some of medical 3D printing's greatest success stories 
200 million Europeans suffer from disabling foot and ankle problems. Splints and orthotic insoles are normally made using the traditional manufacturing processes; impression casts, hand crafting etc. These are time consuming, expensive and make repeat prescriptions very difficult to reproduce. 
A great article by 
Researchers have developed a way to "print" cartilage that could help treat joint diseases and sporting injuries. The 
Most amputees go through a lot of prosthetics in a lifetime. This can be expensive, especially in the developing world. 
A new system is being used by a handful of dentists to scan patients’ teeth and create crowns for them while they wait. A process that normally takes two weeks, now only takes an hour. 
Penny Bailey explores a 
Thanks to a tiny exoskeleton that was made possible by 3D printing (