3D Printing saves lives in Italy

I’ve been fascinated with 3D printers ever since I started writing about them 15 years ago. In 2010, I wrote about a fascinating new technology being developed at that time at the University of Manchester in England, where scientists were in the process of developing a technique through which inkjet nozzles would spray live human cells onto a patient. Ideally, this would speed up the healing process because doctors could seed a patient with replacement tissue that would grow to the size and shape required. This was used to treat burn victims who have suffered severe disfigurements.

Today, 3D printing is enabling prototyping, customization, research, and manufacturing for many sectors of the healthcare industry. So, in the era of the Coronavirus, it was remarkable to see 3D printing come to the rescue once again in the healthcare industry.

Valves created to combat Co-Vid 19 in Chiari, Italy

As reported in the Daily Mail UK News last month, a 3D printer was used to save Italian coronavirus patients' lives by producing a replacement valve for a broken ventilator, and all in just a few hours after the hospital's supplies fell short. These ventilators provide patients with oxygen when they are unable to breathe on their own, as used in severe Coronavirus cases.

As it turned out, the Chiari hospital in northern Italy's Lombardy region, ran out of the spare valves that are used on their ventilators, and time was of the essence. A collaboration between 3D printing experts and local business owners came to the rescue, rapidly fabricating the replacement parts that were needed. Many thanks to 3D printing expert Massimo Temporelli, who quickly re-engineered the design and began producing valves using FabLab’s 3D printing service.

There are patent and validation issues that arose from using these non-original spare parts, but to avoid people dying, exceptions had to be made. Because of the significant demand for additional valves during this Coronavirus period, the Brescia hospital was able to save lives because of 3D printing.

It has been forecast that 3D printing in the medical field will be worth $3.5 billion by 2025, compared to $713.3 million in 2016. The industry’s compound annual growth rate is supposed to reach 17.7% between 2017 and 2025. Medical applications for 3D printing are expanding rapidly and are expected to revolutionize health care. Today you will find a number of uses for 3D printing in the medical industry: tissue and organ fabrication; creation of customized prosthetics, implants, anatomical models, surgical tools and many more.

Just-in-time 3D manufacturing

The speed of 3D printing means that it’s now possible for hospitals to quickly create devices as needed in response to patient demand (as we saw in Italy). Traditional medical devices can take weeks to design and manufacture, especially if they need to be customized for a patient. The time now needed to print parts is often much less when compared to traditional manufacturing methods, but there is still significant time required for the conversion of scan data to produce a printable file. So, for more urgent trauma cases it may not be an ideal solution.

Conclusion

In 2020 the 3D printing has become a useful and transformative tool in a number of different fields, including the health industry. The industry continues to grow at an incredible pace, with the potential to impact many markets. And while 3D printing technology is still relatively new and there are still many pros and cons of using 3D printing for medical devices, as we’ve seen in Italy, the pros are starting to outweigh the cons.

Peter Dulis is an award-winning photographer and large-format printing executive, having worked with Canon Canada for the last 14 years. A proven leader with outstanding communication skills, Peter is available for consultation or keynote speaking engagements and can be reached at pdulis@ rogers.com Follow his travel photography adventures at www.photographyadventures.ca.