3dPrintedBones
Latest
3D-printed bone replacements coming soon to an orthopedic surgeon near you, courtesy of WSU (video)
3D printers are slowly, but surely working their way into all sorts of useful, everyday applications -- like the creation of chocolates, flutes and even Mario Kart turtle shell racers. Now, Washington State University engineers are unveiling a unique implementation of the tech that could aid in the regrowth of damaged or diseased bones. Utilizing a ceramic compound, the group's optimized ProMetal 3D printer builds dissolvable scaffolds coated with a plastic binding agent that serve as a blueprint for tissue growth. The team's already logged four long years fine tuning the process, having already achieved positive results testing on rats and rabbits, but it appears there's still a ways to go -- about 10 -12 years, according to the project's co-author Susmita Bose -- before orthopedic and dental surgeons can begin offering "printed" bone replacements. With a synthetic windpipe already under medical science's belt and now this, it's looking like we're just a few short decades away from that long sought after full body replacement. Right, Mr. Lagerfeld? Click on past the break for a brief look at this osteo-friendly machinery.
Shapeways serves up prêt-à-imprimer 3D bones, Lagerfeld stands by for full skeletal replacement
3D printed chocolates? Sure, sounds innocuous enough. But made-to-order 3D printed bones? Now, that's just morbid. For the surgical team at Glasgow's Royal Hospital for Sick Children, however, the tech's come in handy as a budget-priced, pre-operative planning tool. Mark Frame, an orthopedic surgical trainee at RHSC, first came up with the idea to create the osteo-facsimiles after a costly university-made replica, commissioned for a procedure, failed to meet necessary proportion and size requirements. After undertaking a bit of self-assigned internet research, Frame sorted out a method to create renders of a patient's fractured forearm using CT scans processed via the open source OsiriX software. These were then passed through a separate MeshLab application to tidy up any artifacting, and finally exported in 3D-compatible .stl format. The resulting files were sent to Shapeways for printing, with the white plastic bone copies delivered just seven days later for £77. The hospital's been so pleased with the inexpensive outcome, that it's already begun prep work on a hip replacement surgery using a replicated pelvis -- and, no, they didn't specify if the patient was a fashion victim.
