The Promise of 3D Printing in Healthcare

the 23-hour surgery, she was symptom free and back to work!

cise bioprinting technology, customized heart valves are a medical marvel.

In healthcare, it’s the elusive breakthrough to a cure for diseases like cancer that has us all hoping. But sometimes it’s the bit-by-bit advancements, rarely getting headings, that make for greater impact. An example is the field of 3D printing, not even a medical technology by inception, but now a major disruptive force in the healthcare industry.

Also known as additive manufacturing, 3D printing allows the construction of physical objects based on three-dimensional digital models. A futuristic notion until recently, such printers are now commonly found in high schools, university libraries and labs, and also in a fabulous array of high-tech companies producing medical devices, and yes, body parts of all kinds.

Hearing aid manufacturers were early adopters of 3D printing technology. From a silicone mold of the ear canal, a 3D scanner creates a digital model, a 3D printer produces it, then hearing aid components are inserted. The entire process takes less than a day.

Sounds impressive? That’s just the start. Here are a few of the truly amazing stories of 3D printing in medicine.

In 2012, a 20-month-old baby received the surgical implant of a 3D-printed biodegradable windpipe to resolve a rare condition of weak and collapsing airway walls.

Use of the technology to repair damage to the skull is remarkable enough. But in 2014, a 22-year-old woman in the Netherlands suffering from a bone disorder had the entire top part of her skull replaced with a 3D-printed implant. Three months after