3D printing medical technology sets off a new medical industry revolution

Release date: 2014-11-27

Treating children with rare diseases

In February 2012, the medical team of the CS Mott Children's Hospital affiliated with the University of Michigan organized an unusual operation. The surgical object was a baby boy who had just been born for three months and had a rare congenital "tracheal bronchial softening" disease.

Part of the baby's tracheal tissue is fragile, and a small thing, such as changing a diaper, will cause his trachea to collapse. At this time, he may have difficulty breathing and cause obstruction of nearby blood vessels (including the aorta), which may cause cardiopulmonary arrest.

The baby boy in the Mott Children's Hospital has been wearing a respirator. His fragile tracheal tissue needs to be repaired or replaced, but the risk of surgery is too great, not to mention the object is such a small child.

The medical team contacted the baby doctor at the Akron Children's Hospital and quickly decided to replace the failed air tube with a 3D printed air tube.

The University of Michigan medical team handled similar cases, but this time they faced more serious challenges.

The medical team's researchers first scanned the chest part of the baby boy with CT and then created a three-dimensional image model of the part. Based on this model, the medical team produced and printed a small “plywood” to reinforce the fragile airway of the baby boy while keeping the airway unblocked.

This "splint" is strong and soft and can grow larger as the baby grows. The researchers said that the "splint" would stay in the chest of a baby boy for three years until the damaged trachea healed. Because the "plywood" is made of a soluble material that is harmless to the human body, the "sandwich" will dissolve in the body after the baby's trachea is healed.

Three weeks after the "splint" was implanted in the baby's body, the baby boy wearing the respirator was sent home. In May 2013, according to the New England Journal of Medicine, the baby boy has grown up as usual.

What is 3D printing?

As the name implies, 3D printers do not use ink to print content on flat paper, but print three-dimensional layers layer by layer in three-dimensional space. Plastic, metal and other adhesive materials are the "ink" of 3D printers.

In the 1980s, the world's first 3D printer was born. The inventor was American engineer Charles Hull. The "ink" used in the printer was an acrylic solution that would solidify when exposed to air.

After the birth of the 3D printer, car and aircraft manufacturers can draw complex parts design drawings on the computer and print them out. This application is now very common.

As technology advances, 3D printers become cheap and ubiquitous. Both Staples and Amazon offer 3D printing services. Nuts, bolts, headphones, glasses, sneakers, jewelry, caskets, even Star Wars models, building models and entire houses can all be made with 3D printers.

3D printing technology has sparked heated debate among Americans. One of the main points of debate is whether citizens should be allowed to use 3D printers to print firearms.

Print materials currently available for 3D printers include plastic, gold, silver, other metals, ceramics, waxes, and the like. Interested people can print their own avatar dolls in 3D for a small fee.

In vitro medical device

The application of 3D printing technology in the medical field is becoming more and more common.

Almost every day, we will see reports in the magazines and newspapers that 3D printers are used to repair damaged hearts, limbs, fingers and nerves.

Advocates of 3D printing technology believe that this technology can make humans enjoy more democracy, because printable things are more and more personal and private. Believe it or not, we are using "3D printing technology" to "clone" ourselves.

At the Appensian Festival last June, innovative technologies in the health care field sparked a hot debate. The first speaker was Scott Summit, an industrial designer at 3D Systems.

The founder of 3D Systems is 3D technology inventor Charles Hull, which has grown to become the world's leading provider of 3D printers and 3D services.

3D Print's 3D printed metal correction braces Invisalign is popular. Invisalign braces are made of transparent material and are tailored to the patient. The 3D System periodically adjusts the braces according to the recovery of the patient's teeth until the patient's dental problems are completely resolved.

Today, 3D System is firmly on the military medical market. A few months ago, the company and the Oakland Children's Hospital researchers conducted a test to print out the "spine" with a 3D printer to help young people with spine bending during their growth.

However, in order to repair the curved spine, the wearer must wear the 3D System products all the time, and most children seem reluctant to bear this "pain."

Scott Samet pointed out that today's teenagers do not like to go out and exercise, they are more willing to stay in front of the computer for a whole day, which is very unfavorable to the growing spine. But he also said that the mood of children who are not willing to wear 3D printed spine can be understood. He said: "I had a spine surgery a few years ago. I have been using a similar stent for a few months after surgery. It is very uncomfortable."

But Scott Samet stressed that 3D System's 3D printed spine is made of finely ground nylon powder that is both lightweight and breathable, plus tailored for the wearer, just like wearing clothes without any Comfortable feeling.

Scott Samet said the company has been tested between 22 girls and hopes that the product will be more widely used in the future.

On the day of the Artes Festival, Scott Samet also brought the 46-year-old Amanda to the stage. A ski accident in 1992 caused Amanda to lose her legs. Now she is the head of a foundation that helps deaf people.

In 2013, 3D Systems researchers found Amanda. The researchers first scanned her lower body with an instrument and then printed the torn torso, calves and thighs with soft nylon fibers. The researchers then loaded the 3D printed limbs onto Ekso Bionics' electric leggings. In this way, a customized human "lower body" was born. Amanda put on it and began to practice walking slowly.

3D printed implant

Prior to this, 3D printing technology was mostly used to print prostheses. Recently, however, more and more examples have proven that 3D printed objects are also used inside the human body.

3D Systems offers its technology to Conformis, which makes custom knee implants. Earlier this year, a Welsh surgeon used the technique to reshape facial bones for 29-year-old man Stephen Bower.

Bower injured the skull in a motorcycle accident, and the left cheek, eye socket, and upper jaw fell off. By scanning Bauer's "survived" bones, the medical team produced a 3D structure of his entire face, then printed the prosthesis and implanted on Bauer's head.

Recently, Dr. Oren Tepper of the Montefia Hospital has taken medical applications of 3D printing to a new level.

In 2012, Dr. Oren Tepper took over a baby girl named Gera. The baby girl was born with a broken chin and had frequent breathing difficulties. In general, the hospital can perform reconstruction of the jaw for this patient, but the risk of this bone transplant is too high, and it is not suitable for Agea's age at the time.

Dr. Oren Tepper did a head scan for Gera and printed the ideal jaw model with a 3D printer. Dr. Oren Tepper intends to change Gera's jaw shape to match the model.

Then, Dr. Oren Tepper printed a three-dimensional mold suitable for Gera's chin. There are slits and holes in the mold, so that he can implant things without damaging the facial nerves of Gera. Finally, he installed a ratchet on Gera's chin.

Every day, Dr. Oren Tepper will "drag" Gera's chin forward by one millimeter to promote bone cell growth. A few weeks later, Gera’s chin has grown the same as a normal child.

Now, Dr. Oren Tepper treats two or three children with similar disabilities each year.

Dr. Oren Tepper said: "Without 3D printing technology, the risk of complex reconstruction surgery is high and the chances of failure are much greater."

3D printing of cells and organs

Future 3D printing technology will also bring more leap to medical care.

For many years, researchers have been working to recreate kidneys, livers, organs, and bodies. But cell culture in the laboratory has been very difficult, and 3D printing has shown us new hope.

In the 1990s, Anthony Atala, director of the Wake Forest Recycling Institute, began to culture degradable stent human bladder cells in the laboratory. The cells he cultured were in the form of bags and were later successfully implanted into seven children with poor bladder function.

This achievement of Anthony Adalah caused an uproar and was considered the first real victory in the history of rebuilding human organs. Before him, scientists may be able to print tracheal cells, cardiomyocytes, and kidney cells on polymer scaffolds using 3D technology, but they have not been able to grow into mature organs.

As more and more scientists work to rebuild human organs in the laboratory, the crux of the matter is no longer their success, but how they succeed.

The world's first microscope was born in the 16th century, almost the same time as the telescope. Telescopes and microscopes bring new discoveries in the macro and micro fields. However, it is easy for astronomers to understand the universe from a three-dimensional perspective, and it is difficult for cytologists to understand the microcosm from a three-dimensional perspective.

For a long time, human understanding of the micro world has remained at the two-dimensional level. One of the main reasons is that specimens under the microscope must be placed on thin glass sheets. It would be very difficult to let biologists understand tissues and organs from a three-dimensional perspective, let alone rebuild them.

For example, biologists study endothelial cells in human veins, arteries, and capillaries in the laboratory. Once these cells are excreted, they die quickly. Special equipment must be in the laboratory to maintain the survival and growth of endothelial cells.

First, the researchers placed endothelial cells on a plastic tray coated with gel-mixed collagen and other proteins, and placed the plastic tray in the incubator. The incubator needs to maintain a certain temperature, and it is necessary to input an appropriate amount of nitrogen, carbon dioxide and water vapor. Under such environmental conditions, endothelial cells can survive for several weeks. But even the most senior researchers have no control over endothelial cell-derived collagen matrices.

The structure is important for the normal functioning of biological systems, and sickle cell anemia is caused by a single shape-changing gene mutation. The genetic code of a normal protein is called "globulin", which helps red blood cells transport oxygen into human tissue. When a gene mutates, the globulin collapses to block the blood vessels.

Until now, researchers in Alzheimer's disease (Alzheimer's disease) have not found out how brain cells spontaneously make amyloid abnormalities, causing the truth about Alzheimer's disease. The performance of neurons in culture dishes is completely different in the human brain.

Jordan Miller, a bioengineer at Rice University, points out that successful reconstituted organs are made up of at least billions of different types of living cells.

Biologists hope to solve this problem by cultivating different types of cells on plastic or epoxy scaffolds. However, this attempt has not been successful. Even if external cells continue to proliferate, internal cells will die due to lack of nutrients and oxygen.

Biologists may be able to produce billions of kidney cells and eventually form something that looks like a kidney. But if there are no blood vessels that continue to grow to nourish the entire kidney, the kidneys are still ineffective.

New 3D printing cell material

Harvard materials scientist Jennifer Lewis said: "Before I watched the TED talk, some people said that they successfully printed the kidneys and then showed something that looks like a kidney. I think this is very misleading. Shapes like the kidneys are not necessarily kidneys, and scientists should not give people the wrong expectations."

Lewis, a 50-year-old with short hair and rimless glasses, is a friendly and polite person. Although she is cautious about 3D printing organizations and organs, her research is also shifting to this new technology field.

In February of this year, Lewis and David Kolesky published a paper describing a new way to ensure that the printed cells can multiply with advanced materials.

In the paper they mentioned that through a dedicated 3D printer, they can print out protein matrices and living cell types similar to those in the human body. Importantly, they managed to create a network of blood vessels for these cellular tissues, just like real blood vessels that provide life-sustaining nutrients to cells.

Lewis pointed out that they have not yet implemented 3D printing organs, but they have taken a big step. She said: "We call this 3D bioprinting, an important step in biological history."

Lewis grew up in Palatine, Illinois, and graduated from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. When she was a freshman, Lewis was recruited to a ceramic engineering project team. She has been a member of the project team until she received the MIT Ceramic Science Ph.D. Lewis likes the special properties of ceramics, which are key materials for many high-tech electronics.

In 1990, Lewis returned to Champaign to teach and began working on 3D printing. She believes that 3D printing technology is the perfect tool for constructing materials by voxel. She said: "Thirty years ago, if you wanted to print something in 3D, you would use UV-curable resin or thermoplastic, which is basically a prototype or a mold. This is not what I want."

In 2001, Lewis began working with materials engineer Scott White.

Prior to this, White and colleague Nancy created a new material filled with microcapsules using a 3D printer. The microcapsules of the new material were filled with special healing agents. When the material was worn, the microcapsules opened and released the healing dose. . The healing in the microcapsules is a monomer that, when released and encounters other chemicals in the material, chemically reacts and repairs potential cracks.

After Lewis joined White's team, the researchers began to realize that the new material should have its own microchannels to facilitate the healing agent to reach the crack, just as the body's coagulation proteins and platelets reach and heal the wound through the capillaries.

Initially, they used a wax-based "ink" that melted when heated as a printing material. In 2011, Louis began developing the "ink" of Pluronic (addition of polypropylene glycol to ethylene oxide). Pluron is gelatinous at room temperature, but becomes liquid when cooled to slightly above freezing.

Lewis and White used a 3D printer to print out plastic objects embedded in the Pluron network. After the object is cooled, the liquefied Plani can be aspirated, leaving a "channel."

Lewis believes that this material provides them with a wide range of influences and meanings for embedding microvascular networks in 3D printed organs.

In fact, Lewis's approach is just one of many ways to create complex 3D printing organs. Researchers at Brigham and Women's Hospital and Kakainki Mellon University are developing magnetically controlled "micro-robots" that align the pre-arranged structure of the cytometer.

Research teams at Boston University, Rice University, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology are working on making 3D blood vessels with sugar-based "ink." One of the researchers praised Lewis's work, saying that Lewis is a "world class leader."

Revolutionary change

Researchers are passionate about their work and believe that 3D printing can revolutionize the pharmaceutical industry.

Biologists believe that every year, countries and enterprises spend huge sums of money to develop drugs, many of which have been squandered. If 3D printing organization is possible, the hospital can test patients before taking drugs and receiving treatment to see if there are any side effects.

Of course, researchers also know that there are still many problems that 3D printing organs need to solve. As Lewis said: "The 3D printing organ is another human landing project, it's hard, but it's definitely worth a try."

Source: Tang Guoping sees National Health

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