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Marvel Medtech Uses Additive Manufacturing by XJet To Prevent Breast Cancer

Marvel Medtech has developed a revolutionary way to defeat early-stage breast cancer by combining three unlikely counterparts: MRIs, cryotherapy, and the XJet Carmel 1400 Additive Manufacturing system.

Marvel Medtech is a US-based startup that is in business to battle breast cancer. Breast cancer kills more than 500,000 women worldwide each year. In the US alone, one in eight women will be diagnosed with breast cancer in their lifetime. Marvel Medtech’s innovation is a robotic guidance system that will destroy breast cancer cells at the time they are discovered – during breast magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans.

Marvel Medtech’s cryotherapy probe, developed using XJet NanoParticle Jetting technology.

Ray Harter, President of Marvel Medtech, said, “Our new approach preempts the need for many biopsies, surgeries, radiation and chemotherapy treatments. Obviously, the expectation is that it’s likely to save many lives, but it will also dramatically improve the quality of life for patients. In addition, we also know that by eradicating those procedures, it will also reduce overall healthcare costs. And these are not insignificant savings – annually, these could be in the many billions of dollars.”

Ray Harter, Founder and President of Marvel Medtech LLC

After identifying early-stage tumors during breast MRI scans, Marvel Medtech’s technology carefully targets the most dangerous cancer cells and applies cryoablation to freeze and destroy the cells before they could grow.

Marvel Medtech’s cryotherapy probe targetting cancer cells.

The technology transforms MRIs from a diagnostic-only tool into an actual treatment device.

The final challenge for Marvel Medtech was to develop the intricate probe that would work in conjunction with the MRI but not interfere with the machine’s magnetic field. The probe also needed to have very small features and possess complex geometry. 3D printing was the answer, but which printer could manufacture the appropriate material?

According to Harter:

“The tools used inside an MRI scanner must be compatible with strict safety guidelines, and crucially, not disrupt image quality. Because they are one of the most electrically insulating materials, ceramics are an ideal material to achieve this. However, we were unable to find a ceramic-based 3D printer able to accurately and cost effectively produce our ceramic probe. This is why we are adopting XJet’s Carmel 1400 solution.”

With XJet’s NanoParticle Jetting™ (NPJ) technology and the ability to 3D print zirconia (ceramic), Marvel Medtech was finally able to complete the last piece of their life-saving puzzle. They 3D printed the highly complex, ceramic cryotherapy probe. Now the company and its invention are poised to save thousands of lives, dramatically improve patient care, and save potentially billions of dollars in healthcare spending.

There are untold applications for 3D printing ceramic. Register for AMS 2020 and hear XJet’s Chief Business Officer, Dror Danai, talk about Marvel Medtech’s lifesaving probe at AMS 2020 in Boston, February 12 at 3:20. You will also hear him talk about other potential solutions NPJ technology can provide to industries around the world.

The post Marvel Medtech Uses Additive Manufacturing by XJet To Prevent Breast Cancer appeared first on 3DPrint.com | The Voice of 3D Printing / Additive Manufacturing.

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3D Printing Industry News Sliced: AMUG, Protolabs, Essentium, Renishaw and more

In this week’s edition of the 3D Printing Industry News digest Sliced, 3D printing forays into the world of food art; drone deliveries; white-collar boxing and art sculptures. We also cover the latest advancements and updates from the likes of Protolabs, GE Aviation and Renishaw. There are also updates regarding exhibitions and speakers for the […]
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Researchers Use 3D Printing to Isolate Aggressive Breast Cancer Cells

Researchers at the University of Girona have successfully isolated stem cells from one of the most aggressive forms of breast cancer – using 3D printing. The goal of isolating the cells is to find a drug that attacks them exclusively, without damaging healthy parts of the body.

According to Dr. Teresa Puig, Director of the Oncology Unit of the Group for the Investigation of New Therapeutic Targets, these breast cancer cells still remain in the body after treatment via chemotherapy or radiotherapy and often cause relapse. This particular type of cancer is the triple negative subtype, which occurs in young women and leads to relapses in 20 to 30 percent of patients within three or four years.

“A tumor is made up of many types of cells, and these are the cells we have in low proportions,” said Dr. Puig. “Therefore, it is complicated to locate these cells within the tumor. This new system is cleaner, allowing us to work more directly with these types of cells later.”

The research is documented in a paper entitled “Screening of Additive Manufactured Scaffolds Designs for Triple Negative Breast Cancer 3D Cell
Culture and Stem-Like Expansion.” The main goal of the study was to develop a scaffold architecture that afforded a high breast cancer cell proliferation rate. Several values of the selected parameters, which included layer height, infill density, infill pattern, infill direction, and flow, were tested on the slicing software BCN3D Cura and the scaffolds were 3D printed on the BCN3D Sigma 3D printer.

Using the Taguchi experimental design method, 27 scaffold configurations were manufactured and analyzed. At least 10 copies of each configuration were 3D printed to perform the characterization and cell proliferation assays, with the objective being to see which geometric form was most effective in separating the stem cells.

“This structure is a mesh that, on the basis of a series of parameters such as porosities, spaces, and the distance between one element and another, is ultimately able to allow cells to stick to the matrix or not, to grow, and to be able to ‘enrich themselves’, as our colleagues say,” said Joaquim de Ciurana, Director of the Research Group on the Engineering of Products, Processes, and Production.

Before this research, these cell cultures were produced two-dimensionally, which did not allow the cells to be effectively separated, so specific drugs could not be produced to attack the cells. But the 3D method in which the researchers isolated the stem cells for this study allows them to better study the cells in order to find the bio-indicators responsible for the tumors. They will then be able to attack them with pharmaceuticals, although the research is not yet at that point.

“We still do not know how to treat them, but we have found a way to isolate them,” said Dr. Puig.

Optical microscope images of cells attached to different scaffolds configurations. White arrows indicate cells adhered to PLA filament.

This method is also more cost-effective than traditional analysis methods, allowing for more frequent experiments in the future.

Authors of the paper include Emma Polonio-Alcalá, Marc Rabionet, Antonio J. Guerra, Marc Yeste, Joaquim de Ciurana and Teresa Puig. Several of these scientists were also involved in a recent study about 3D printed composite stents.

Discuss this and other 3D printing topics at 3DPrintBoard.com or share your thoughts below.

[Source/Images: BCN3D Technologies]