11 Nov 2014
Why 3D Printing is a Real Game Changer in Modern Medicine
News
Posted on Nov 11, 2014 by Juste Semetaite 
No one wants to live fast and die young anymore. The new cult that’s spun the society into an obsessive quest for the modern elixir of extended life is the beating heart of the 21 st century. It is, of course, the all-consuming desire to reverse the process of aging and extend the maximum lifespan.
Some of the measures that were taken to shift the grand plan into gear are well known to us – skin care, vitamins, anti-aging products, supplements and herbs, physical fitness and nutrition. The number of people making conscious life changing-decisions, such as quitting meat and cigarettes, hitting gym at least three times a week or loyally taking essential vitamins is soaring daily.
The other, technology-inspired discoveries that have a substantial effect on improving and significantly extending human life are just starting to enter the realm of everyday discussions. It’s no secret that some of these new-found revolutionary solutions are meeting resistance, as we’re finding it quite difficult to accept the sci-fi elements of the future of medicine.
One of the most exciting scientific developments in medicine is 3D printing, or more precisely bioprinting, and the long-awaited possibilities of growing human tissue and organs.
# Major breakthroughs and local miracles
With new advances in 3D printing taking place every day, we had a possibility to witness some major medical accomplishments that deserve a standing ovation.
In January 2014, doctors at the University of Michigan performed an eight-hour long surgery on a 16 month old boy, implanting a special 3D-printed splinter to support the baby's windpipe that would help him breathe.
Garrett Peterson is sharing a special moment with his mother Natalie Peterson after successful surgery.
Last year Princeton University scientists successfully 3D-printed a bionic ear that can pick up radio signals and interpret them as sound, taking the concept of 3D technology way further than printing passive objects.
It seems that the painful and expensive process of creating prosthetic ears, noses and chins will soon be replaced by a much cheaper and simpler solution of bioprinting them, since the scientists at the University of Sheffield have introduced a new process that involves 3D scanning a patient's face, modeling a replacement part, and printing it using pigment, starch, and medical grade silicone. The part can also be cheaply re-printed when it wears out.
Bionic Ear
Very recently a similar process has been adapted to help patients diagnosed with eye cancer. Researchers at the University of Miami have developed a process to manufacture facial prostheses using topographical scanning and 3-D printing technology that is considerably cheaper and only takes a few hours to have the final product.
In May this year Southampton doctors and scientists successfully performed a game-changing hip surgery with a 3D-printed implant and bone stem cell graft. Printed in titanium, the hip is more durable and due to its custom design it matches the patient's exact measurements, so it should improve fit and could reduce the risk of having to have another surgery.
A patient in the US had the first ever 3D-printed skull-replacement surgery, replacing 75% of the bone in his head with a man-made patch carefully molded to fit his unique skull geometry. In March this year doctors in the Netherlands have performed a groundbreaking operation, successfully replacing most of a human's skull with a 3D-printed plastic one that was made an exact fit for the patient.
One of the most complicated area of bioprinting is producing human skin, as it's exceptionally difficult to recreate a particular skin tone in every light. But even that is not an obstacle for the geniuses behind bioprinting: a hybrid 3D printer that can print skin for burn victims as well as human cartilage has been built by the scientists at the Wake Forest Institute. Another local miracle was performed by the scientists at the University of Liverpool, when using carefully-calibrated 3D scanners they were able to capture and print accurate skin patches. Although the projects are still in experimenting stage, they look extremely promising.
Recently, the world's first 3D-printed vertebra surgery has been carried out by the Beijing's doctors, successfully replacing the second vertebra in a 12-year-old boy’s neck. It's considered to be a huge step forward in modern medicine, as the specially designed 3D-printed bone is a perfect fit, which should allow quicker and easier recovery and should last much longer compared to the traditional (metal) vertebra replacement.
World's first 3D-printed vertebra.
A few years ago doctors from the University of Hasselt in Belgium have carried out a complex surgery replacing a woman's badly infected jaw with a 3D-printed titanium and bioceramic replica, returning poor women the pleasure of eating.
What is currently happening in the medical field can be called the golden age of bioprinting. For the first time in history, a wide range of various 3D printing applications have successfully led us to believe the possibility of a longer and healthier life. Cheaper, faster, more durable and custom designed medical solutions can have a mind-blowing effect on the quality of human existence.
In ten years scientists have printed scaffolds, cells, small patches of tissue and recently - blood vessels, let alone the bespoke prostheses that helped so many people return to their normal lives. Hence, if we take a better look at what's been accomplished already, in such a short period of time, the idea of printing organs doesn't seem so far-fetched.
# A whole new level of personalization
The unique customization qualities of 3D printing make it a great fit for the modern society that thrives on the notions of originality and creativity. That's especially visible when it comes to jewelry, art, product design or clothing. In medicine, however, a whole new level of personalization has been created.
# 3D-printed drugs. Patients with long-term illness or older people often have to take up to 20 tablets a day. According to research, 30-50% of them don't take their medication correctly, which can seriously diminish the effectiveness of the treatment and even cause side effects. Scientists at the Nottingham University are working on a new, 3D-printed solution that could help reduce the number of tablets from 20 to 1. Using a simple 3D printer, scientists are printing tablets that have different ingredients in each of their nozzles, which the printer precisely fills in with tiny drops of each material. Some ingredients are coated in special materials to delay the release of the drug and give the scientists a precise control over how the tablet works after the patient has taken it.
The hope is that in the future a combination of treatments specific to each person become a norm. That is, to enable doctors to formulate and print off a tablet that has an exact combination of medicines required to treat each patient's unique condition.
3D-printed pharmaceuticals.
However, it may be years before patients are treated with highly personalized 3D-printed tablets due to serious regulation in medicine. On the other hand, these technological developments can be successfully applied to less potentially harmful tablets, like vitamins and supplements. People suffering from certain allergies or unable to eat certain types of food often lack vital vitamins - and that's where custom designed 3D-printed tablets can come to hand.
# Personalized implants. Another incredible development that has been achieved in medicine thanks to 3D printing technology is low-cost, personalized implants molded to a patient's anatomy that scientists are now able to load with cancer-fighting and antibiotic compounds, taking the better targeted drug delivery a step further.
Currently used drug delivery devices, known as antibiotic beads, are typically formed using bone cement and are hand-made by a surgeon during a procedure. The problem with antibiotic beads is that they don't break down in the body, which means a follow-up surgery to remove them when their job's done is inevitable.
A team of researchers from Louisiana Tech University have been working to develop a custom 3D printing filament with specific properties for drug delivery to produce an improved antibiotic bead using a consumer grade 3D printer. They successfully 3D printed partially hollow beads using a simple consumer printer; the beads are able to deliver more drugs in a controlled way in comparison to currently used antibiotic beads, offering a localized treatment option and thereby eliminating the risk of causing liver and kidney damage in the patient due to large systematic doses of toxic drugs. The plastic used for the 3D-printed beads gets resorbed by the body, meaning no follow-up surgeries are needed.
3D printer produced ‘beads’ containing antibacterial or cancer-fighting compounds.
Dr. David K. Mills, lab director and professor of biological sciences and biomedical engineering at Louisiana Tech said: "Our method enables dispersion on a tabletop scale, allowing researchers to easily customize additives to the desired levels. It is truly novel and a worldwide first to be 3D-printing custom devices with antibiotics and chemotherapeutics."
# Reimagining medical procedures. Thanks to 3D printing, another revolutionary service has been introduced to medicine, linking surgeon's preparedness with patient care. Until recently, when planning any surgery, doctors had to rely on two-dimensional images to work out his or her approach, which wasn't very accurate and allowed space for mistakes. With 3D printing, surgeons are finally able to create and hold in their hands a replica of a patient's heart, brain, skull or any organ or body part in need of operation. It's an amazing tool to help doctors prepare for complex procedures, as 3D-printed models can accurately capture the unique anatomy and fine details - details that traditional imaging technology would miss and that may be critical during complicated surgeries - of each individual. There are types of surgeries (i.e. brain or heart) that were previously almost impossible to practice for, so the new simulation service can be a real game changer in surgical preparedness.
Cortex exoskeletal cast
# 3D-printed organs. How likely is it? Organ printing is one of the hyped-up topics of 3D printing that has raised a lot of discussions, though many think we're still decades away from actually seeing it happen. However, a young San Diego-based company Organovo, which is one of the leading names in the research of bioprinting, has recently been in the news for their outstanding achievements in printing human tissues, including that of the breast, lung, bone, heart, peripheral nerves and blood vessels.
Seeking to commercialize their achievements, the company is planning to offer their 3D-printed liver tissue for pharmaceutical companies that could use it for liver toxicity tests on drugs under trial. According to the company's estimations, the first clinical trials for 3D printing of partial human livers will begin within 4-6 years.
No one's talking about 3D printing entire organs just yet, but if Organovo succeeds with its 3D-printed partial organs plan, they could be used to replace diseased portions of a patient's liver and considerably extend his or her life (a year, maybe!), while they're waiting for a suitable liver to become available. And that's just plain fantastic.
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