Graphics Reference
In-Depth Information
Medical
The medical field is probably the most interesting area in 3D printing, and there is a lot of
experiment and development going on in this field. Functioning organs might be 3D printed
in a distant future, which would eradicate the need for patients to wait, sometimes in vain,
for organ donors. Grown human cells will most likely replace animal testing of new drugs,
this is not far from a breakthrough, and 3D printing could be used in this process. Printing
of skin and soft tissue like earlobes, noses etc. are already progressing. Experiments in the
tissue engineering field with printing of human organs like hearts, livers, lungs and kidneys
have been going on for some time. Bio-printing of human organs is complicated, 3D printers
can print objects in millimeters but some of the smallest blood vessels have widths counted
organs like hearts and livers in order to transport nutrients and oxygen that keeps the cells
alive. This is considered to be a very complicated and difficult research mission. Moreover,
liver, nerve and pancreas cells cannot easily be grown in laboratories. Some progress has
been made, human bladders have been created by growing cells around bio-material scaf-
folds (without 3D-printing technique) and planted in humans successfully. But kidneys and
hearts are far more complicated and are still in the experiment phase.
American company Organovo has done 3D printing of “mini-livers” (strips in size of mil-
limeters) which have survived for 40 days. Organovo's organs are initially intended for
drug testing. Considering the shortage of organs, like kidneys needed for transplantations, it
would be a great breakthrough if these organs could be successfully bio-printed in the future.
Many leading hospitals around the world are already using 3D printing, either by printing
scaffolds where tissue is grown or direct printing by bio-plotting of cells in a kind of a gel.
Universities around the world are also experimenting with 3D printing of living cells and
organs.
3D Printing of bone substitutes is already an established craft. A 3D printed jawbone in ti-
tanium and part of the scull bone in PEKK (polyetherketoneketone) have successfully been
implanted in patients. 3D-printing is also used for producing titanium orthopedic implants,
trabecular or porous structures are produced in titanium, the pores enables bone to regener-
ate and grow into the implant. The Swedish company Arcam is active in this field and 10
000s of hip cups have been produced with their EBM technology.
Another important application is 3D printing of body parts which are scanned and 3D prin-
ted into lifelike models to be used for pre-operation planning or education purposes.
There is also 3D-printing of certain medical instruments and customized protection etc.
The need for customization and adjustment to individual patients promises a great future for
3D printing in the medical sector.
