#110 3-D Printing Body Parts (English)

3D printing is not quite a new concept. The concept of printing something in 3D came from the 1980’s, but this just seemed like a far fetch idea. Now our technology has improved this allows us to create a wide range of objects from our home, if we have access to a 3D printer and a computer software that prints out designs for us. 

3D also has allowed doctors to create replacement body parts for patients who have lost a certain body part. Using a computer means there will be a very highly accurate result from the 3D printer than creating it by hand and also saves some time (because a machine is doing everything for you!)

The example I am going to be using is a Dutch surgeon, who has 3D printed a skull “top” to cover the top of a woman’s head who is suffering with a rare bone disease causing her skull to be squeezing on her brain causing problems like a loss of sight and headaches. The results gathered from after the successful surgery proved that it had an amazing outcome to which the woman is back to normal health and can see properly and suffers with no more headaches.

With results like this it is very encouraging to see that 3D printing is going to help people with diseases that cause a deformation in a tissue or a loss of a body part. So people with previous loss of body parts now have the possibility of trying 3-D printing to replace their body parts.

Here are a list of body parts that can be 3D printed:

-       Blood vessels (to help with general blood flow.)

-       Heart valves (to help with blood flow in the heart.)

-       Skin (this is a possibility for victims of severe burning which resulted in the loss of skin)

Some people see the implanting of non-human organs to help people ethically incorrect. But this is going to/ is revolutionizing medicine.

3D printing is just a step closer to us turning into biological robots J

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IXcz3OdHSHk - This is a very gruesome video be warned!

SSP