3D printing may seem like the stuff of science fiction, but it now plays an important role in medical care. Doctors can use this technology to improve surgeries, create better, more affordable prosthetics and implants, and even quickly develop medical equipment. Here are some of the top ways hospitals and doctors are using 3D printing, and how it may transform your health care in the future.
3D Printing in Hospitals
In 2010, just three hospitals had in-house 3D-printing facilities. In 2019, that number had grown to 113. It allows doctors to look at your anatomy before they do surgery. They can even practice on it before the procedure. This may lead to better surgical outcomes. A 2019 study published in the journal JAMA Network Open found that doctors who used a 3D model to prepare for kidney tumor surgeries reported shorter operating times, less blood loss during surgeries, and shorter hospital stays. Another 2021 study found that lengthy surgeries were reduced anywhere between 1.5 to 2.5 hours when surgeons used 3D models to guide them.
To make models, doctors usually put the imaging data from your CT or MRI scans into a special software program. This makes a computer-aided design file which is sent to a 3D printer that prints out an actual physical model.
Prosthetics
Prosthetics are life-changing if you need them. But 3D-printable prosthetics may be even more of a game-changer. They help engineers and physicians to develop prosthetics fully customized to fit the person. It’s also made this technology more accessible and affordable, as consumer 3D printing means “DIY” prosthetics can be printed by anyone, anywhere.
One organization that helps people in need is e-NABLE, a network of volunteer designers, engineers, and physicians who create 3D-printable prosthetics. They’ve made more than 8,000 prosthetic limbs for people around the world.
Medical Implants
While dental implants were some of the first approved uses of 3D technology, the FDA has since approved it for knees, hips, ankles, spines, and skulls. These implants are often thinner and less expensive than traditionally manufactured implants. One study of people who had hip replacement surgery with a 3D implant reported better stability and less pain than those who had a regular one. One theory is that the 3D implants helped encourage bone growth more than traditional implants.
3D-printed implants may also be more like your body’s own bone. One study of people with spinal fusions who had used 3D implants found that the surgery was successful almost all of the time (99%).
Medical Equipment
Surgical tools like forceps, clamps, hemostats, and retractors can now be produced using 3D technology. One advantage to them is that they can be modified quickly after surgeons have used them and provided feedback. They may also be useful whenever supply chain challenges lead to a shortage of medical equipment. During the COVID-19 pandemic, for example, when ventilators were in short supply, a team at Oregon Health & Science University developed a low-cost ventilator produced via 3D-printing technology. The device is so simple it doesn’t require electricity and can be made in as little as 3 hours, for less than $10 each.
What’s in the Future?
Many major hospitals can already print out a 3D model of your body parts or organs to help surgeons plan for a procedure. But these tissues and organs are only created in hard plastic or rubber. New research may yield a more authentic version. In 2020, researchers at Carnegie Mellon University made the first full-size, 3D-printed human heart model made out of a substance called alginate, which is very similar to real heart tissue. This makes it easier for surgeons to cut and manipulate it, just as they might to a real heart during a medical procedure.
One challenge has been to get the organs to stay together during the printing since gravity often causes the biological material known as biolink to move around. Carnegie Mellon University researchers were able to make their heart with a technique known as Freeform Reversible Embedding of Suspended Hydrogels (FRESH). It uses a needle to inject a solution of biological material, or biolink, into soft hydrogel, which supports the object as it prints. Once it’s done, heat is applied to get the hydrogel to melt away.
The hope is, eventually, models like this one may be able to provide a structure that cells can stick to and grow on, which will allow doctors to repair or even fully replace human organs.
3D pills
As doctors move into more personalized medicine, the hope is that 3D pills will move along with it. This allows pharmacists to quickly produce pills with dosages, shapes, sizes, and release characteristics tailored to each person. Right now, there’s only one 3D drug available, Spritam (levetiracetam), an anti-epileptic drug approved by the FDA in 2015. It allows doctors to prescribe a very high dose which isn’t possible through conventional methods.
But 3D pills haven’t taken off, partly because it takes a while to print them. But, researchers have found a new printing technique where the drug is dissolved into a solution of a chemical that’s activated by light. This allows it to quickly solidify and form a printed tablet. Some medicines can now be printed in as little as 7 seconds. Researchers hope that one day, pills will be able to be printed using the light from your smartphone screen.
