As 3D printing continues to make its way into
a variety of real-world applications, one sector is often in the spotlight:
medical.
Especially in times of public health concern,
medical care is a global priority. Improving healthcare is a
seven-plus-billion-person opportunity. But is it realistic to expect newfangled
technologies to actually make an impact?
Certain disadvantages are holding back 3D
printing in the medical field: let’s take a look at three of the biggest
issues.
Disadvantage
One: Knowledge
3D printing is a relatively young technology,
around for decades, not centuries. Its lack of age-old existence may cause
mistrust or, worse, misunderstanding. What’s possible, what’s realistic, how
can we make it happen?
How do we find the answers to those questions?
The answer to that last is the same as any
other quest for knowledge: turn to the experts. While 3D printing may be pretty
new, expertise has grown along with the industry itself. In-depth research is
emerging all the time from prestigious universities and research hospitals to
examine and prove out realistic use and best-in-class solutions.
Experts in medical 3D printing include both healthcare professionals have been putting the technology to use to help patients and the technicians and operators syncing the technology to point-of-care needs. Service bureaus offer a helpful access point for those new to this area, as they have built up relationships with experts on both sides of this equation in addition to building in-house expertise and offering a variety of options.
Reading well-vetted sources in news and
research, as well as accessing service-driven organizations with experience in
new technologies, offers an important step in any process. Gaining background
and building up familiarity is necessary to bring on something new like 3D
printing. Understanding how it can be used today, and how applications may
build up in the future, is a critical first step.
Disadvantage
Two: Applicability
Once you understand that 3D printing can be used in the medical field, a larger
question arises: should it?
Sometimes the answer is no. Increasingly,
though, healthcare providers are finding that, yes, there’s a place for 3D
printing in their medical toolbox.
But for what? A few of the areas gaining in
prominence include:
- Patient-specific anatomical models
- Patient-specific surgical guides
- Surgical tools
- Prosthetics
- Bioprinted tissues
The underlying theme throughout each of these
areas is easy to see: patient-specific.
3D printing can create one-off items built to
specific dimensions, matching a patient’s exact anatomical structure. The
patient’s care team can then hold an exact replica of, for example, the
patient’s heart, examining, understanding, explaining, and even practicing
procedures that will work for that individual.
The human mind understands best in three
dimensions; a 3D printed model allows for a person to hold and manipulate a
physical structure. A doctor can explain to the patient exactly what’s going to
happen and why, pointing to problem areas and indicating how intervention will
help in a conversation much clearer than one relying on CT scan or X-ray
imaging. Surgical teams can use realistic materials to create practice models,
effectively rehearsing intricate procedures before entering the operating theatre.
This technique has been put to use in complex cases like separating conjoined
twins, preparing for face transplants, and practicing heart procedures for
high-risk patients.
Surgical guides can be used in the operating
room, providing exact guidance to precise measurement for areas of focus.
Similar guides are also rising in use in dentistry. Tools used in surgery are
also being 3D printed. Each of these usable objects is benefitting from the
increase in sterilizable materials that can be 3D printed for one-time or
patient-specific use.
3D printing prosthetics is increasing access
to these much-needed assistive devices. Because 3D printers don’t require that
molds be made, costs are quickly lessened while maintaining the integrity
needed to fit an individual perfectly — and safely. In cases where children
require prosthetics, their care teams can maintain their records, updating
their virtual models to size up and 3D print new prosthetics as the child grows
up and requires larger pieces. The ability to 3D print simple prosthetics on
even desktop machines has opened up availability through low-income and
hard-hit areas, such as in Haiti following the devastating earthquake that left
the country with a larger population of amputees. Advanced bionic hands are
emerging as well, along with other higher-tech models taking advantage of the
latest technologies.
The highest-tech 3D printing out there today
is bioprinting, in which living cells make up some of the “ink” used in the 3D
printer. While this is a nascent area and fully 3D printed functional organs
remain some years in the future, it’s not inconceivable that in our lifetimes
we’ll see patients receiving bioprinted organs. Research has been expanding,
creating breakthroughs in 3D printed skin, cell scaffolds, livers, even beating
hearts and vascular structures. The major disadvantage right now is that most
of these remain decades out from common usage — but work is only picking up as
progress continues around the world.
Disadvantage
Three: Access
Once you determine that 3D printing can be
applicable, how do you actually make it happen?
Having figured out that, for example, a
desktop SLA-style 3D printer can make the patient-specific heart model you
need, how do you actually make that happen? Not everyone has the know-how to
convert CT scan data to a 3D printable file, nor the machine and materials on
standby ready to bring the design into the physical world.
Software, hardware, and materials all come
into play here, along with a skilled operator(s) at each stage. A major
advantage of 3D printing in healthcare is the possibility for point-of-care
creation, but building up the requisite in-house knowledge and physical
capabilities is a multi-layered process rife with training, and vetting and
investing in equipment — all before getting that first print started.
Until proper training and facilities are set up — if it even makes sense to have a dedicated in-house operation — access to technology and expertise can come from experienced companies. Offering end-to-end 3D printing manufacturing and fulfillment services to 130 countries, Shapeways offers a base to start the medical 3D printing journey.
Find out more about Shapeways’ medical 3D printing offerings here.
The post The Disadvantages of 3D Printing in the Medical Field appeared first on Shapeways Blog.