A New Cure

“We are effectively reinventing a body part” claims Noel Fitzpatrick. In his hands are two small metal plates which he handles delicately as he raises them to the camera. To the untrained eye these objects look dull and worthless. To Noel, they have the potential to help an animal walk again.

At a veterinary centre just outside Guildford, in Surrey, UK, Noel prepares to insert these plates into a 5-year-old Doberman cross named Maori. Pressure has been building up for months in the dog’s spine causing severe pain and difficulty walking. Once inserted, the plates will separate two vertebrae in her spine, alleviating her pain and allowing her to walk again. The man who designed the plates is Jay Meswania. His team at University College London ‘printed’ the plates with a 3D printer - this gave them a level of precision that cannot be achieved using conventional moulds. Without this degree of precision, Noel’s job of inserting the plates within a millimetre of Maori’s spinal cord would have been nearly impossible. It is not just dogs that are benefitting from 3D printed medical implants – they are starting to be used in other animals, including humans. Current forecasts predict that the value of the market for 3D printed medical implants is expected to grow to £1.5bn by 2020. Today there are over 100 implants that have been approved by the United States’ FDA (Food and Drugs Administration), certified as safe to be implanted in humans. On February 9th, 2012 at the C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital in Michigan, US, a 3D printed tracheal splint was inserted around the airway of a young boy named Kaiba. He suffered from life- threatening tracheobronchomalacia, a condition which causes the bronchus to collapse, preventing him from breathing. Kaiba’s life hung in the balance and as time passed it seemed ever more likely that the problem would not be solved. The young boy’s mother, April, was fearful at the thought of losing her son: “Quite a few doctors said he had a good chance of not leaving the hospital alive”. At the nearby University of Michigan, two professors, Glenn Green and Scott Hollister were working on a revolutionary device that would open up Kaiba’s windpipe. A CT scan of his chest enabled the professors to create a map of his bronchus. The construction of the splint was left to a 3D printer, which was able to build it to perfectly fit Kaiba’s bronchus. The splint was made from a biopolymer called polycaprolactone that would biodegrade into Kaiba’s body within three years, leaving behind a functional bronchus. Following a successful operation, Kaiba is now able to breathe normally for the rest of his life. 3D printing can certainly improve lives like Kaiba’s in developed countries such as the US and the UK, but its implementation in less developed countries remains static. For many non- profit medical clinics which rely on governmental support or private donations, investing in 3D printing technology is simply not feasible. But there is hope. The current cost of a domestic printer is £7504. This relatively high cost means that 3D printers are unattainable for the majority at present. As they become cheaper, it may well be an accessible technology for all in the near future. This means that more like Kaiba will receive 3D printed treatments for conditions such as tracheobronchomalacia, treating a range of illnesses worldwide. Many have been surprised by the rapid development of 3D printing technology, but none as much as Chuck Hull. Shortly after graduating from the University of Colorado, Hull founded the world’s first 3D printing business. Hull was well aware of the implications of using the technology in engineering, but was even more surprised to see its widespread use in the medical industry. “That was just startling to me, that someone used the technology like that." Although Hull is unsure as to where 3D printing could go next, he is confident that soon, printers will be in every home. If Hull is right, then the technology could have widespread implementation in developing countries as well. But where will it go next?

In Pretoria, South Africa, the Aachen University of Applied Sciences has been hosting summer schools to educate local pupils about the use of 3D printing in medicine and beyond. At one of the summer schools student Laura Thurn described her experience: “We are delighted with the printer kits”, “Assembling the kits is very useful in understanding the technology”. Laura and others at the schools now have the ability to print any object with the basic skills they learnt in operating the machines. Projects like this help to make 3D printing sustainable in the future. The Station Berlin exhibition gives a glimpse of what 3D printing might become. This large exhibition centre will be filled with different types of 3D printing technology. Over three days in September 2016, the centre will play host to one of the largest 3D printing exhibits in the world, and the technology will be given the stage to impress and inspire the thousands of people who visit it. At the forefront of this initiative is Terry Wohlers, a speaker at the event and the Principal Consultant & President of Wohlers Associates Inc, a 3D printing company based in the United States. “It was very exciting not only to see these events come about, but the audience, the number of people is unprecedented.” Wohlers hopes events like this will encourage new interest in the technology, and help to develop its potential in multiple industries. The show will be replicated in a number of different cities around the globe including Tokyo, Shanghai and Mumbai. It will open up the technology to new cultures and people, expanding its global reach and paving a new path for global innovators and designers. Whilst it is important to introduce 3D printing to the wider audience, one of the most innovative and exciting uses of the technology lies within the laboratories of the Wake Forest School of Medicine in North Carolina. In his TED talk, Anthony Atala explains that there is a “global organ crisis” caused by the lack of organs available for transplants. As an attempt to solve the crisis, Atala has successfully printed numerous different human organs such as the kidney, the bladder and the liver. Atala takes a small sample of the organ “no bigger than a postage stamp” and builds a framework, using a 3D printer, around it. Unfortunately, all the organs Atala has printed are prototypes and are still years away from functional and clinical use. Nevertheless, his work proves that printing organs is possible. If successful, patients would be able to immediately receive 3D printed organs designed for them, rather than having to wait for a donation. Thanks to the latest developments in 3D printing, animals and humans alike can experience healthier, more fulfilling lives. Without the precision printing of her spinal implant Maori would not be able to walk. And now, four years after his life saving surgery, Kaiba is able to breathe and live normally. 33 years ago Chuck Hull made the first 3D printed object – a black eye-wash cup. Now, scientists are experimenting with the technology to print organs that can be readily available to patients that need them. Who knows where 3D printing might be in another 33 years?

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