3D Printing in Medical Field
Published on : Wednesday 07-10-2020
That day is not so far where additive manufacturing and artificial intelligence together could change the lives of humans, says Sreeja Gadhiraju.
What is 3D printing? In a very simple words, conversion of a digital model into a physical model. But is it that easy? You are creating a virtual model and you want to create it in the physical world. You are seeing it on your computer, and you want to hold it in your hand? How is it possible?
Okay, let us just consider how are we printing words on a paper? We have our fluid, which is ink, and we are just distributing it in a planned manner, i.e., words, and Print. Now let us replace the ink with any kind of material and let us replace 2D with 3D! That is 3D Printing or Additive Manufacturing or Rapid Prototyping, etc.
When and how did it start?
Now, where should I start, should I talk about person who is an inventor, who applied for patent and could not get it or should I talk about a scientist who could actually build an object by the sequence of thoughts? If we are talking about technology and how we have grown in past couple of decades, we all know for a fact that names really do not matter but the evolution does. Each of those inventors, mad scientists, they could pave a path to today`s technology and of course it is the same with additive manufacturing too.
And now let us think about why do we need it? For the democratisation of creation! You design and you create! Your machine, your material and above all your creation. And that’s why 3D printing is the hottest now!
Where are we now? In simple words, we are little progressed from yesterday. And if we must define, here we are: A 3D printed house, A 3D printed steak, and 3D printed jewels and much more.
And let us see the magic of additive manufacturing in the medical field. What made this 3D printing so special? Don’t we have enough conventional methods of manufacturing? From injection moulding to CNCs, we could manufacture so many things so far.
Then why are we very much interested in 3D printing?
Initially, 3D printing, which is also known as rapid prototyping, was majorly used for creating prototypes. Throughout product development stages, if the product needs multiple modifications depending on the purpose of the product, it is very much easier with 3D printing. The main reason behind this, we just need to change the design model of our product and then print it again and we can iterate the same till we get the product we need.
Additive manufacturing has seen a tremendous growth in the past decade. There are many companies which took 3D printing on mainstream in the areas of production, mass customisation and invention. On July 22nd 2016, Depuy Synthes has announced that they are offering titanium facial implants along with Materialise. It was a breakthrough in medical industry.
The main advantage of 3D printing is there are no original equipment manufacturers (OEMs). Though the patenting and rights work in the same way, it is also possible that an engineer with a renowned organisation and a person who learned design software as a hobby at home, could design a component in a similar way. And then they can choose their machine, material and print the same. The quality of the products could be different but still they both serve the purpose. If we could collect all these and create a data base for modals, isn’t it a digitisation in manufacturing?
“Digitisation is finding its way into manufacturing,” says Harald Schmid, Founder and Managing Director of Gramm GmbH, Regensburg, Germany. Here is what he says about additive manufacturing: “We provide solutions for additive manufacturing, i.e., for 3D printing. Our vision is to create a global network that makes handling materials as easy as the internet does for information and data. In other words, A Worldwide Manufacturing Web. With additive manufacturing, an entire industry is basically being digitised. With the digitisation of data processing, i.e., the Internet, immense added value has taken place and the whole world has changed. The same thing is now finding its way into the production of objects.”
Gramm GmbH is a start-up company located in the Region of Bavaria, Germany. They are currently providing the services in Design & Engineering, Contract Manufacturing and Workshops & Training.
This is a facial implant designed by the founder of Gramm. It was manufactured by FIT production GmbH. The cranioplasty was performed by Dr Tobias Kelner at Galilee Hospital. There were no complications involved and after completion of a year at rehab, the patient has regained the speech. This is one of the best examples to explain the miracles we could do using 3D printing. Let us have a quick glance of few other creations in medical field.
3D printed implants
In August 2018, Osseus Fusion Systems received its fourth FDA 510(k) clearance. This time it was for its Aries family of 3D printed lumbar interbody fusion devices. The Dallas-based company’s devices are printed using Osseus’s proprietary 3D printing platform, PL3XUZ. The first Aries-L lateral interbody parts were implanted into a patient for the first time in January 2019. “Through 3D printing, we are able to manufacture spinal implants that are customised to the patient,” says Dr Sam Joseph, Jr., the doctor who is involved in the procedure and aided in the development of the Aries series.
Bioprinting
Of course, when medical professionals discover a technology capable of customised production, organic forms with some degree of precision, they decide to manufacture some human organs. Last year, we have seen the introduction of the first consumer product relying on bioprinting. At CES, Johnson & Johnson showcased the Neutrogena Mask, a 3D-printed face mask produced based on 3D images of a customer’s face. The customer needs to click a selfie with a smartphone 3D camera and Neutrogena Skin 360 system analyses the persons face and determines the required ingredients for the dermatological treatment. Then a custom-fit hydrogel mask will be printed from cellulose along with few other required components depending the person’s skin and delivered to the customer.
3D printing whilst Corona pandemic
On April 21st, 2020, Anotomiz3d in India announced that they are developing and delivering cost effective face shields, which are 3D printed. On July 11th, 2020 Think3D announced that they designed, developed and delivered high quality respiratory masks for Eastern Naval command of the Indian Navy. The mass customisation was easier with 3D printing and the time to market is less. Thus, the companies could react very quickly and could deliver the products right on time.
Future of 3D printing in medical field
In addition to all the inventions so far, new medical developments using 3D printing are being researched worldwide. A team of researchers at the University of Toronto has developed a portable skin printing device which is capable of printing bio ink into the wound to aid the healing process. This device covers the wound with a uniform sheet of biomaterial, stripe by stripe. The first prototype of this machine was unveiled in 2018.
Another exciting research is happening at University of Minnesota, who are already famous for printing ‘Bionic ear’, the ‘Bionic eye’. The team, led by Michael McAlpine, has created an artificial eye with 3D printing. The creation is made with a hemispherical glass dome on which silver particles were printed, followed by photodiodes. Whilst the future of additive manufacturing is not widely determined, the research and the thought of what all can we do with help of additive manufacturing in the medical field is in the minds of many researchers across the world. That day is not so far where additive manufacturing and artificial intelligence together could change the lives of humans. Who knows there will be generation who could live for 200 or 300 years just by replacing their body organs? Who knows that just like we could print skin, tissues, ear and eye so far, we would be able to print a human body and all the organs?
But it is definitely interesting to give it a thought, isn’t it?
Sreeja Gadhiraju is a young engineer pursuing Masters in Mechatronics in Germany. A former team lead in Amazon, for Sreeja the craving to know and study latest technologies is an addiction. Presently studying Robotics, Modelling and Simulation, Cyber Physical Systems, etc., she has fallen in love with additive manufacturing. “There is so much to know, there are so many things which can do using this amazing technology. I want to finish my masters and proceed further towards PhD in Additive Manufacturing,” says Sreeja.
