3D Printing
I think that 3D printing is a great invention that is not used simply for making toys and trivial things like that. In fact, people are using it in much more useful ways. For example, there's a doctor who used a 3D printer to make a new skull which was successfully implanted. This woman was having severe headaches and was losing her vision due to a thickening skull. If the condition was allowed to go much further, doctors say that all brain functions would be lost. The company that made the new cranium specializes in 3D printing. Anatomics manufactured the skull that saved a woman's life. The patient has now fully regained her vision and has gone back to living a normal life with almost no traces that she had the surgery at all.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/03/26/3d-printed-skull-transplant-utrecht-_n_5036665.html
To keep going with science/medical things and 3D printing, scientists are now trying to make a human heart from a 3D printer. Contrary to many beliefs, 3D printers do not just print in plastic or silicon or another substance of that sort. In fact, scientists are making it possible for people to receive heart transplants that were printed using their own cells. As futuristic as this sounds, it has actually been going on for quite some time. 3D printers have made valves, splints, and even an ear using the patient's own cells. The biggest challenge they are facing right now is to get all the cells to work together. The heart is made of a special muscle called cardiac muscle. These muscles have receptors and transmitters so the heart works fluidly and effectively.
Building organs from the patient's own cells would solve the problem of rejections some patients have with organs from donors. This would also solve the problem for small children with heart problems who are too small for an artificial or donor's heart.
http://www.foxnews.com/tech/2014/04/10/scientists-trying-to-create-human-heart-with-3d-printer/
3D Printing Around the World
- There's a little boy in the UK who got a new hand for only 50 euro, (~$70.00,) that is equivalent to the ones that cost thousands. He was born with a fully functioning thumb but no fingers.
- A young girl is going to be able to get a new jaw to replace her severely undersized one at one month old due to 3D printing.
- There is a 3D printed machine that is able to catch the blood that is lost in surgery and recycle it, ready to be transfused into the patient again.
- Concept casts are made for broken bones. It increases the speed of healing and is just as strong as the conventional casts that are used now.
- Scientists and doctors are able to print new cartilage for people who need it.
http://3dprintingindustry.com/2014/04/22/osteoid-concept-adds-ultrasound-3d-printed-cast/
http://3dprintingindustry.com/2014/04/29/researchers-demonstrate-new-3d-bioprinting-method-using-visible-light-cartilage-production/
3D printing is a huge advancement in the medical field. It doesn't just print things that are for fun. It is very useful and has a huge potential.
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