Doctors save baby’s life with 3D-printed tracheal implant

The Joker

The Joker

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In an article published in the New England Journal of Medicine today, two doctors from the University of Michigan described how they saved an infant with a life-threatening respiratory disorder using a custom-designed 3D-printed device. Printed with bio-absorbable plastic, the device is holding the child's airway open and allowing him to breathe normally.

The child, Kaiba Gionfriddo, suffered from tracheobronchomalacia—a collapse of the airway to one of his lungs. The condition prevented him from breathing out carbon dioxide and getting sufficient oxygen. At six weeks old, he was out with his family at a restaurant when he started to turn blue. By the time he was two months old, he had to have a breathing tube inserted into his trachea to keep him alive.

Dr. Glenn Green, MD, the associate professor of pediatric otolarygololgy at the University of Michigan, was called in by Kaiba's doctors to consult on the case. He and Dr. Scott Hollister, Ph.D., a professor of biomedical engineering at Michigan, worked together to design a tracheal splint for Kaiba, using a CT scan of his respiratory tract to create a model of the device. They obtained emergency clearance from the Food and Drug Administration to surgically implant their creation and installed the splint on the bronchus of Kaiba's left lung on February 9, 2012.

“The material we used is a nice choice for this," Hollister said in a release published by the University of Michigan. "It takes about two to three years for the trachea to remodel and grow into a healthy state, and that’s about how long this material will take to dissolve into the body.”
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http://arstechnica.com/information-...-babys-life-with-3d-printed-tracheal-implant/

Pretty fucking amazing!!
 
These machines are incredible to play with. I was lucky enough to have one of my designs printed to take to clients in Saudi at my previous job. We literally hit print in our 3d cad package, spent 5 minutes making sure of the document in the printer dialog, and let it do its thing.

The next day, we assembled a fully functional gearbox with the bearing being the only parts that weren't printed. To build a similar prototype using traditional methods (die casting, wire-cutting, case hardening etc.) would have taken at least a week on the fast track, most likely more.

Needless to say, we got the milestone payment. These things are the future of prototype development.
 
I wish I could get my hands on one of those things. I can just think of all the crap I could make! Does it cost a lot do the printing? I know the printers themselves are pretty damn expensive, but I'm wondering about the cartridges, or whatever they work with.
 
Amazing uses up ahead for 3D printing. I would never have thought of it's uses in medicine. I hope to have the possibility of playing with one one day.
 
Eugene said:
I wish I could get my hands on one of those things. I can just think of all the crap I could make! Does it cost a lot do the printing? I know the printers themselves are pretty damn expensive, but I'm wondering about the cartridges, or whatever they work with.
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There will be strict laws put in place for using these printers.
In fact there is talk that you might need to get permission from the US Gov before printing, you'll also have to declare what you'll be making and what it'll be used for. I can sort of understand why they would go to such levels though.
 
The Joker said:
There will be strict laws put in place for using these printers.
In fact there is talk that you might need to get permission from the US Gov before printing, you'll also have to declare what you'll be making and what it'll be used for. I can sort of understand why they would go to such levels though.
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Just like there are strict laws about what you can do with a lathe and milling machine? The rumours about laws are BS, luckily.

You can build a tiny one for around R30K, but the proper machines with a decent tolerance costs around R800K for a small one. The one we got was R400K for a second hand one.

The material is a cartridge of plastic, you get different colours, I forget what size the cart was, but I do remember that it came down to around R4/cc to print. The interior of the parts are also printed, but with a sort of honeycomb thing to save material.
 
Avatar said:
Just like there are strict laws about what you can do with a lathe and milling machine? The rumours about laws are BS, luckily.

You can build a tiny one for around R30K, but the proper machines with a decent tolerance costs around R800K for a small one. The one we got was R400K for a second hand one.

The material is a cartridge of plastic, you get different colours, I forget what size the cart was, but I do remember that it came down to around R4/cc to print. The interior of the parts are also printed, but with a sort of honeycomb thing to save material.
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Yeah true but you know they'll have something to say about it lol

http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2013/may/09/3d-printed-guns-plans-state-department
 
The Joker said:
Yeah true but you know they'll have something to say about it lol

http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2013/may/09/3d-printed-guns-plans-state-department
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Oh, they'll definately moan, but honestly, it's not the printer that should be governed. It's already possible to make weapons with much less than a 3d printer..

Eugene said:
How hard is the plastic they print? I see they printed a shoe, I can't imagine that actually being wearable.
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It might be wearable. The ones I worked with was rather hard, like tupperware, but raw material is interchangeable, so I'm sure you can pop in a more malleable plastic when you need to. It's also important to remember that a 3d printer is much like a paper printer. You get laserjet, inkjet, glossy paper, newspaper, big ones used by Naspers to print a million Huisgenote in a day, big plotters to print out blueprints or posters. The term 3d printer encompasses a lot of other devices with different uses. I can guarentee you that the one used by the docs here had vastly superior material to the ones I worked with.
 
Eugene said:
How hard is the plastic they print? I see they printed a shoe, I can't imagine that actually being wearable.
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I imagine that depends on the plastic they select. I know there were discussions about printing houses with sand and some sort of binding agent.
 
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