It sounds like science fiction, but medical 3-D printing is changing our future. Technology is changing so fast that yesterday’s fantasies are today’s realities. Some futurists say that in 50 to 75 years we will barely recognize our lives.
What is 3-D printing?
It
is printing on a three dimensional surface, in layers. Using the
technology, scientists are already printing out skin, kidneys and
even a replica of a beating heart. An article on the CNBC website
says
that soon we will expect an average human to live 100 to 110 years.
That life will be improved because of the medical possibilities of
3-D printing. If a person loses a limb, doctors will print them a
replacement, layer-by-layer. The process was developed in the 1980s
by an American engineer named Charles Hull. The 'ink' used in the
process is an acrylic substance that becomes solid when it is exposed
to UV light. Usually that exposure is to a laser.
The process is Already Used Medically.
Although
3-D printing is being used commercially on many fronts, and even
Amazon and Staples offer the service
to customers, the most promising use is in medicine. In 2012,
according to
a New
Yorker article,
doctors at the University of Michigan’s CS Mott Children’s
Hospital performed a ground-breaking surgery on a three-month-old
boy. The child had a condition that caused the structures of his
airway to be fragile and they kept collapsing. The doctors created a
3-D 'map' of the child’s throat, something that is possible
using a CT scan, and then designed and printed a stent to reinforce
the airway. The printed implant will last for three-to-five years,
during which the child’s tissues will grow to replace it, then
dissolve. On another front, orthodontists and prosthodontists use 3-D printing to design Invisalign, a brace alternative, aligners to
straighten teeth.
What About the Future?
We
have already seen 3-D printing technology used successfully to
produce an exoskeleton that enables people with spinal injuries to
walk. Now the science is turning inward to implants and research. The
technology is being used to study Alzheimer’s Disease and promises
some real advances. If we live longer, and healthier, it might be
because as parts wear out, we will print new ones to replace them. We
already have a picture
archiving and communication system that allows us to store and
retrieve huge amounts of medical imagery. It is not that far a
stretch to envision 3-D maps of our bodies inner workings, captured
and stored until they are needed to design replacement knees or hips.
It will all be done cheaper, too. A writer recently witnessed an
experiment with the new technology. There were several containers,
some containing collagen, some fibroblasts and some the acrylic 'ink.”'The doctor found a multi-dimensional image on the computer
of the tissue he wished to replicate. Then he placed a clean slide
under the containers and told the printer to print it. It took a very
short time before a 'gelatinous substance' was deposited onto the
slide. The machine didn’t finish the procedure, but the
possibilities were certainly apparent.
The future of
medicine may undergo a radical change when we no longer must rely on
harvested limbs and organs for transplants. The debate over the use
of fetal stem cells may have quieted completely. Certainly the quality
of life for older adults as joints wear out and are replaced, will
improve vastly. There is promise in the treatment and, perhaps, the
disappearance of diseases like Alzheimer’s, and in treating birth
deformities. Although it isn’t creation itself, it is exciting
and barely believable, near-enough to revolutionize medical
treatment and affect quality of life for multitudes of patients not
even born yet.
