Man has deployed vertebra made 3D printer

While 3D printers are not yet common in homes, we need to know how much they have helped on a daily medicine. printed objects with this technology are being transformed into perfect fittings for implants, for example. And this has been demonstrated with excellence by some Australian doctors.

At the end of 2015, Ralph Mobbs, a neurosurgeon at the Prince of Wales Hospital in Sydney, found a patient who suffered from a very violent form of cancer known as chordoma. The 60-year-old man had a "particularly difficult to achieve tumor," Mobbs said the vehicle "Mashable".

"At the top of the neck there are two very specific vertebrae, which are responsible for bending and rotation of the head. The tumor involved these two parts, "he said. "Without treatment, the tumor can slowly compress the brain stem and spinal cord, which could result in quadriplegia."

Previously, attempts to treat this tumor surgical way were rare because of its location and risk. Surgeons had to try to rebuild the vertebrae with bone from elsewhere in the patient's body, "but it is extremely difficult to make the perfect fit," Mobbs said that for the first time, decided to use 3D printing to your advantage. "I saw a great opportunity," he said. "With 3D printing, can provide the patient with a portion of the customized body, which facilitates the achievement of goals of the surgery and makes it work much better."


For that surgery was possible, Mobbs worked with an Australian company medical items, Anatomics. This, in addition to building the implant titanium, also made a play similar to the patient's body so that the surgeon could train innovation before entering the operating room. Although 3D implants already in use for years, the team believes that this was the first 3D printing to replace a vertebra, especially the neck. "You have to be perfectly done," Mobbs said.

Finally, the surgery took over 15 hours to complete. The patient, according to the doctor in charge, is recovering well, but having to deal with some obstacles, since the incision had to be made through the mouth. "The power has been an obstacle, but recovery will be gradual," said Mobbs.

The surgeon believes 3D printing grows exponentially in medicine. "There is no doubt that this is the next big step. Save lives, joints, bones and more. "

But Mobbs is not completely satisfied, he believes there is still a lot to improve. "Titanium is not the best of materials. It takes something more like the body's cells from patients, a completely customized organ. " This may not be such a distant future. If vertebrae have been printed, soon a diabetic may receive a new pancreas.