3d printing

Additive manufacturing, otherwise known as

three-dimensional (3D) printing, is driving
major innovations in many areas specially in
medicine.
Bioprinting is the three dimensional printing
of biological tissue and organs through the
layering of living cells.
According to Ledford (2015), in her article
The printed organs coming to a body near
you, the advent of three-dimensional (3D)
printing has generated a swell of interest in
artificial organs meant to replace, or even
enhance, human machinery.
Bioprinting process utilizes stem cells taken
from the patients own body which serve as
initial material.

Advantages of 3D
Printing

One of the key advantages of using 3D printing for surgical

implants is the opportunity to model the implant to fit the
patient.
One of the most exciting things about the potential for 3D
printed organ transplants is the lowered, if not eliminated,
risk of rejection.

 This airway splint was

designed by researchers
at the University of
Michigan to fit an infant
with a damaged airway.
The splint was made out
of a material that is
gradually absorbed by
the body as the airway
heals.

 A three-year-old girl from Northern Ireland has become

the first to have a life-saving adult kidney transplant,
using3D printing.
According to Guy'sand St Thomas' NHS Foundation
Trust: "It is the first time in the world that 3D printing
has been used to aid kidney transplant surgery
At four months
old,adult
Lucy Boucher
suffered
heart a
failure
involving
an
donor
and
child recipient
which starved her kidneys of oxygen. She was told she
would need to have kidney dialysis for life, until surgeons
at London's Guy's and St Thomas' and Great Ormond
Street Hospital performed the transplant.

 Addressing these complexities requires the integration of technologies

from the fields of engineering, biomaterials science, cell biology,
physics and medicine.
(3D bioprinting involves additional complexities.such as the choice of
materials, cell types, growth and differentiation factors, and technical
challenges related to the sensitivities of living cells and the
construction of tissues.)
Other applications include developing 3D-bioprinted tissue models for
research, drug discovery and toxicology.@@
In the United States 18 persons die every day waiting for a transplant.
3D bioprinting has already been used for the generation and
transplantation of several tissues, including multilayered skin, bone,
vascular grafts, tracheal splints, heart tissue and cartilaginous
structures.
3D printing is being usedby several hospitals as a surgery aid,
particularly for complex procedures like hip replacements and organ
transplants.

 Si bien todava no se ha logrado imprimir un corazn,

rin o hgado en 3D, si se logrcrear una
trqueapara trasplantarla a una nia, utilizando sus
propiasclulas madre.
no habr que esperar que exista un rgano de un
cadver ni largas listas para recibir un transplante de
rganos.
3D printing is being usedby several hospitals as a
surgery aid, particularly for complex procedures like hip
replacements and organ transplants

3D printing can also be

used to generate cheap
and creative prostheses.

References
Dehue, R. (2013). 3d Printing.
Ledford, H. (2015). Nature. Retrieved from A
International weekly journal of science:
http://www.nature.com/news/the-printed-organscoming-to-a-body-near-you-1.17320
Mironov, V., Kasyanov V., Drake, C., & Markwald, R.
(2008). NCBI The National Center for Biotechnology
Information. Retrieved from
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18154465
Murphy, S. V., & Atala, A. (2013,). Nature Biothecnology.
Retrieved from
http://www.nature.com/nbt/journal/v32/n8/full/nbt.2958.