Applications And Advantages Of 3D Printing In Medicine

At present, precision medicine andpersonalized treatment are important directions of medical development today,and individualized treatment is particularly important in many surgicaldisciplines. How to make implants that are more in line with the patient'sanatomical and biomechanical characteristics is an important way to improve thefit between the implant and the patient's own structure, improve the successrate of tumor surgery, and maximize individual functional recovery. The objectsprinted by 3D printers can be designed through computer software, which bringsthe possibility of personalized treatment required in multidisciplinarytreatment. 

Clinical application of 3D printingin medicine:

1. Manufacturing of medical models

For high-risk operations, in orderto ensure the safe implementation of medical operations, doctors will analyzeand plan based on the diseased organ model to determine important surgicalplans. The advantages of using 3D printing in medicine to accurately controlmaterials can quickly prepare high-quality and high-simulation organ models,help doctors to make accurate surgical planning, improve the success rate ofsurgery, and facilitate intuitive communication between doctors and patients onsurgical plans.

A hospital in the United Statessuccessfully performed a head separation operation for a pair of conjoined twinbabies. What is striking is that the hospital used a 3D printer from Israel'sObeject company to create precise conjoined heads before the operation. Basedon this, a careful study of the surgical plan was carried out, and theoperation was carried out smoothly. It only took 22 hours, while the previoussimilar operations took as long as 72 hours.

2. 3D printing tissues and organs

Human tissue and organ substituteshave always been a difficult problem in clinical medicine. Many patients losttheir lives because of this, and human tissue and organ substitutes have highrequirements on materials and are difficult to implement. But with thedevelopment of science and technology, 3D printing human organs has becomepossible.

Using a digital light processing(DLP) 3D printer, the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) has created acomplex network of blood vessels that, when implanted into mice, fused with thevascular system and functioned normally. Using 3D printing technology to printthe model of human organs can not only truly simulate the human body's reactionto drugs and get accurate test results, but also reduce the cost of drugresearch and development to a large extent.

3. 3D printed implants

3D printing technology is used tomanufacture orthopedic implants, which can effectively reduce the manufacturingcost of customized, small batch implants, and such implants can be betterintegrated into the human body and improve the treatment effect of patients. Inrecent years, the medical industry has increasingly adopted metal 3D printingtechnology to design and manufacture medical implants.

Australia's Commonwealth Scientificand Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), Melbourne-based medical implantcompany Anatomics and UK doctors have teamed up to implant a 3D-printedtitanium-polymer sternum for Edward Evans, a 61-year-old UK patient, a worldfirst. Previously made of pure titanium, the new 3D-printed sternum implant canhelp rebuild "hard and soft tissue" in the human body better thanprevious pure titanium implants.

4. 3D printed drugs

The advantage of 3D printingtechnology lies in the personalized preparation of complex structures, so whenit is used in pharmaceuticals, individual customization of dosage, appearance,taste, etc. can be realized. At the same time, because 3D printed"tablets" can have special microstructures, it is helpful to improvedrugs. release behavior, thereby improving efficacy and reducing side effects.

Aprecia, an American pharmaceuticalcompany, successfully applied 3D printing in medicine to place the active andinactive ingredients of the drug layer by layer, and developed the world'sfirst 3D printed medicine - Spritam (chemical name: Levetiracetam), which is adrug used to treat epilepsy. The pills printed with drug powder have theadvantage of a porous structure, which can be quickly dissolved and exerted itsmedicinal power after contact with water, and can cope with sudden convulsions.

The current advantages of 3Dprinting in medicine in surgical clinics:

l  3Dprinted medical models can intuitively understand the anatomy of lesions, whichis beneficial to preoperative planning, case consultation, and simulatedsurgery: models can be made to realize the transformation of image data fromtwo-dimensional to three-dimensional, and to improve physicians' intuitiveunderstanding of the disease; It is convenient for doctors to communicate withpatients and their families.

l  Developa more detailed surgical plan: Physicians can directly carry out surgicaldesign and simulation on this model, providing precise and personalized newideas and methods for the diagnosis and treatment of clinical diseases, therebyshortening the operation time and reducing additional surgical risks andanesthesia time, reduce complications, improve surgical success rate, safetyand shorten operation time.

l  Theapplication of surgical aids and the formulation of surgical guides: 3D printedguides are an individualized and precise surgical auxiliary nail placementtool, which achieves the purpose of navigating drilling and placing nails byforming a specific fit with the bone or skin surface.

With the continuous improvement ofmedical level, more and more medical workers have begun to pay attention to howto provide patients with better treatment plans that are more in line withtheir own needs, so as to achieve maximum recovery of body functions.Personalized treatment through 3D printing in medicine is the first choice tosolve this problem.