Quora: How 3D Printing Is Changing Healthcare

3d printing heart on chip harvard
A heart-on-a-chip, made entirely using multimaterial 3D printing in a single automated procedure. Researchers hope it could pave the way for the end of animal testing. Lori K. Sanders and Alex D. Valentine, Lewis Lab/Harvard University

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Answer by Keck Medicine of USC, 500+ internationally renowned doctors at a leading academic medical center:

Performing any kind of surgery requires a great deal of precision. Now, surgeons can use an exact 3D model of the patient's organs to practice a procedure and hone their skills before performing it on the patient.

Although 3D printing was first invented in the mid-1980s, we are only starting to explore its potential numerous medical applications and benefits. At the USC Institute of Urology of Keck Medicine of USC, cancer patients in need of surgery are getting the opportunity to see just how beneficial the technology is to their treatment.

Urological surgeons are able to use 3D reproductions of their patients' organs as guides to find cancerous cells. Surgery often is recommended for patients with aggressive cases of prostate cancer. But doctors need an exact guide to find the exact location of the cancer.

Inderbir Gill, MD, associate dean of clinical innovation at the Keck School of Medicine of USC and executive director of the USC Institute of Urology, uses 3-D printed organs to improve patient outcomes. "Once we are in there, it has been impossible to see where the cancer is," Dr. Gill said. "Our chances of removing all the cancer increase with better data and better tools."

The 3D copy of the prostate helps Dr. Gill avoid coming into contact with areas surrounding the prostate (like nerve bundles), which can lead to harmful side effects, including incontinence and impotence. According to Dr. Gill, the surgeons at the USC Institute of Urology are among the first to explore this technology.

Measuring the right amount of radiopharmaceuticals

The new cancer application also involves 3D molds that can be filled with liquid, allowing experts to see in detail the flow of radiopharmaceuticals. Radiopharmaceuticals are drugs containing radioactive material that may be injected into a vein, taken by mouth or placed in a body cavity. They are used to treat a number of different tumors, including thyroid cancer, cancers of nerves cells in children and certain tumors that have spread to the bones.

Often, the difficulty in this procedure is calculating a dose that is high enough to kill the cancer cells without causing too much damage to healthy tissue. In the future, accurate modeling could allow doctors to fine-tune dosing.

Using duplicates in reconstructive surgery

As part of reconstructive surgery, plastic surgeons have begun using 3D printers to help create duplicates made from polymers. Models from 3-D printers serve as templates and help surgeons carve out bone replicas as well. Experts believe that the use of digital planning in prosthesis development produces superior results by reproducing the exact shape from CAT-scan data. This makes the replacement bones a good match to the patient's natural bone.

Engineers and physicians print entire prosthetic limbs, which helps to create a more exact fit for patients. Children with prosthetics also can benefit as the children grow and need replacements. Digital blueprints can be kept in their files for reference, and because the process requires less labor, the price is more affordable.

3D printing also has been used in making tablets and sensors for post-operative care, which can be implanted in a patient's body, prosthetic parts, tissues with blood vessels, cardiovascular models, bones, ear cartilage, heart valves, and replacements for cranium and synthetic skin.

New applications of 3D printing are being used in the medical field every day. Researchers are developing printers that can print out human tissue or even pills. In the future, patients may be able to print their own drugs at home.

How is 3D printing helping cancer patients? originally appeared on Quora - the place to gain and share knowledge, empowering people to learn from others and better understand the world. You can follow Quora on Twitter, Facebook, and Google+. More questions:

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