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The Straight Story

(48,121 posts) Thu May 23, 2013, 01:24 AM May 2013

3-D printer helps save dying baby

....

With hopes dimming that Kaiba would survive, doctors tried the medical equivalent of a "Hail Mary" pass. Using an experimental technique never before tried on a human, they created a splint made out of biological material that effectively carved a path through Kaiba's blocked airway.

What makes this a medical feat straight out of science fiction: The splint was created on a three-dimensional printer.

"It's magical to me," said Dr. Glenn Green, an associate professor of pediatric otolaryngology at the University of Michigan who implanted the splint in Kaiba. "We're talking about taking dust and using it to build body parts."

Kaiba's procedure was described in a letter published in the most recent issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.

"It was pretty nifty that (doctors) were able to make something for Kaiba on a printer like that," April Gionfriddo said. "But we really weren't so worried about that. We were more worried about our son."

http://edition.cnn.com/2013/05/22/health/baby-surgery/index.html

7 replies

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3-D printer helps save dying baby (Original Post) The Straight Story May 2013 OP

Now that's a really good use of a 3D printer, for a change. Totally custom body parts. Electric Monk May 2013 #1

Other than guns and bullets Control-Z May 2013 #2

We saw a prototype when I was in the Marines: here's another good example Recursion May 2013 #3

Just print out the spare parts to make another printer. FSogol May 2013 #6

We're talking about taking dust and using it to build body parts. BlueToTheBone May 2013 #4

Amazing! Best wishes to the Gionfirddo family (nt) question everything May 2013 #5

:) Junkdrawer May 2013 #7

Electric Monk

(13,869 posts)

1. Now that's a really good use of a 3D printer, for a change. Totally custom body parts.

Reply to The Straight Story (Original post)

Thu May 23, 2013, 01:34 AM

May 2013

I have an aunt that could use some new artificial hips and knees that actually fit, or she'll be totally bedridden soon.

Control-Z

(15,682 posts)

2. Other than guns and bullets

Reply to The Straight Story (Original post)

Thu May 23, 2013, 03:36 AM

May 2013

made from plastic, this is probably the first time I've been able to fully grasp the use of 3D printer technology. This is truly amazing!!

It is for reasons like this that I love science and technology.

Recursion

(56,582 posts)

3. We saw a prototype when I was in the Marines: here's another good example

Reply to Control-Z (Reply #2)

Thu May 23, 2013, 04:52 AM

May 2013

For millenia, ships have had to carry every possible spare part they could ever need, because if a spar breaks when you're in the middle of the ocean and you can't replace it, you're screwed. The boatswain (trivia: pronounced and occasionally written "bosun&quot showed us that they had the ability to print about half of the various electronics parts the ship needed, so that much more space in the hold could be used for, say, food, or whatever else the ship was supposed to be transporting.

(Of course, you're then screwed if the printer itself breaks...)