Application of 3D Printing in Medicine (Essay Sample)

THE APPLICATION OF 3D PRINTING IN MEDICINE Evans Juma Kitui Writerscash.com: Sample Essay September 5, 2016 3D printing is a computer guided process that involves successive layering of material to form a three-dimensional object. The printed objects can vary in size and shape. Although previously used in engineering to create prototypes, 3D printing has now been successfully incorporated in the medical field to help in reconstructive procedures and targeted therapy. Since 3D printing enables customization of printed objects and mass production of goods, it has a lot of potential in the medical field. However, the application of 3D printing in medicine varies with each patient’s medical needs.1 Before 3D printing was introduced into the medical field, patients who required organ transplants were forced to wait for years before being attended to. This was due to the low number of available organ donors. This led to worsening of disease symptoms while some patients succumbed to their illnesses as they waited for a viable organs. However, with the introduction of 3D printing of organs, these cases have declined. Although complex organs like the heart and kidney have not been successfully reproduced, other hollow organs like the lungs, urinary bladder and renal tubes have been successfully printed.2 Printed organs are made from polymers of fibrin or alginate to avoid rejection by the body and they are mainly used for transplants. ______________________________ 1 Carl Schubert, Mark van Langeveld and Larry Donoso, "Innovations in 3D Printing: A 3D Overview From Optics to Organs," British Journal of Ophthalmology 11, no. 36 (2013): 143 2 Mark Michalski and Joseph Ross, "The Shape of Things to Come: 3D Printing in Medicine," The Journal of the American Medical Association 312, no. 21 (2014): 2213 Another use is in the printing of bone and cartilage. Though this has not been fully utilized, developments are underway to enable printing of all the bones found in the human body. Bone tissue is a porous and rigid structure. The 3D printing process of bone starts with the printing of a stiff and porous scaffold that matches bone tissue in strength. Depending on the type of bone, the scaffold is tailored to a patient’s specific needs. The scaffold is usually a hexahedral mesh that acts as a gradient for more bone growth. Bones that have been successfully printed using 3D technology include some of the cranial bones, the mandibular bones and the femur. To reproduce the ear cartilage, 3D printers are used to print ear molds which serve as the basic shape for new cartilage.3 3D printing has also been successfully implemented in the manufacture of prosthetics. This helps in mass production of prosthetics which are both low cost and individualized to meet specific patient needs. The main challenge of creating prosthetics using the traditional method was precise fit. Moreover, the process was very time consuming and patients had to wait for long periods before being assigned their artificial limb. 3D printing has eliminated both limitations. To ensure the prosthetics fit correctly, measurements are made using small cameras and saved into a computer. The computer then instructs the 3D printer to reproduce a prosthetic based on these measurements.4 _____________________________ 3 Jia An et al., "Design and 3D Printing of Scaffolds and Tissues," Engineering 1, no. 2 (2015): 263 4 Christian Zagel et al., " Development of Low-Cost Prosthetics Using 3D Printing Technologies," Advances in The Human Side of Service Engineering 494, no. 1 (2016): 96 Other...