Next: 3D Printing of Human Bones?
This is pretty crazy.
Quote:
Jeanne Calment led a pretty normal life. She smoked in moderation. She took light exercise. She remembered seeing the Eiffel Tower built in 1887. She sold pencils to Van Gogh. But she got into the Guinness Book of Records because, when she died in 1997, she was 122 years old, officially the world’s oldest person. She attributed her longevity to a diet heavy on olive oil, port wine and chocolate.But scientists do not expect her to keep her record for long. In fact, they think that many of us will live well past 100, and the secret will be the ability to replace old body parts with new.How will we do this? By simply printing organs with a 3D printer.We are already printing body partsYou will probably already be aware of 3D printing. Instead of printing a two dimensional image, as we do at home on a paper printer, 3D printing machines print one layer upon another until they have built up a three-dimensional object. You can watch a 3D printer in action here.The advantage of 3D printers is that we can produce remarkably complex objects. They are already commonly used to build everything from hearing aids to aircraft components. In fact, the market for 3D printers grew 29% from 2011 to $2.2bn worldwide last year, according to Wohlers Associates.How long before we can print hips, knees and vital organs? Well, it might surprise you to know that we are already using 3D printers to make body parts. Take the case of one Kaiba Gionfriddo.The days after the birth of Kaiba were terrifying for his parents, Bryan and April. Kaiba would repeatedly stop breathing and turn blue. Time after time he struggled through, but still the doctors warned that he might not even leave the hospital alive.Dr Glenn Green of the University of Michigan had other ideas. He believed that a revolutionary new technology could save Kaiba’s life. And he was right.Kaiba was suffering from a rare condition called tracheobronchomalacia. A collapsed airway was blocking his efforts to breathe. The solution was to make a tubular splint to fit around the airway and hold it open. For that Dr Green first made a CT scan of the airway to get its exact measurements and then made the splint. And here is the revolutionary bit: the splint, made of a biocompatible polymer, was laid down to exact specifications by a 3D printer.This revolutionary technology saved Kaiba’s life. Thanks to the splint and Dr Green, Kaiba is now breathing normally to his parents’ huge relief.And although Kaiba Gionfriddo is the first child to receive a 3D-printed airway splint, he is not the first human to receive a body part made in this way.Last year, for example, doctors in the Netherlands fitted an 83-year-old woman with a new jaw after her own had been destroyed by a chronic bone infection. Again, the first step was to create a computer image of the new jaw. This then instructed the 3D printer to create the jaw, by laying down titanium powder that was fused together by a laser.The jaw had articulated joints and cavities to promote muscle attachment and grooves to direct the regrowth of nerves and veins. Finally it was given a bio-ceramic coating so that it would not be rejected by surrounding tissue.It was a remarkable feat of engineering. And the scale of the opportunity for biotech investors must be obvious. If we can print jaws and airway splints, what more could we do?
Read the whole article at: http://moneyweek.com/next-frontier-3d-printing-bones/
Watch a cool video on this at: http://www.ted.com/talks/anthony_ata...an_kidney.html
