Dutch scientists successfully save the life of a 22-year-old woman with a rare bone disease through the use of controversial 3D printing technology
In late March of 2014, a team of Dutch scientists at the University Medical Center Utrecht changed a 22-year-old woman’s life forever. With the help of advanced 3D printing technology, this woman received an implant for the topmost part of her skull.
The patient in question had a rare bone disease that caused the skull to grow much thicker than normal, which lead to a number of complications, including searing headaches and poor eyesight. The doctors had said that the long term effects of this condition have been known to result in severe brain damage and, in extreme cases, death.
“It was only a matter of time before critical brain functions were compromised and she would die,” said Dr. Bon Verweij, the leading doctor on the case.
During a 23-hour surgery, Verweij and his team successfully removed the affected part of the skull and replaced it with its durable plastic counterpart. “It is almost impossible to see that she’s ever had surgery,” Verweij noted after just three months of recovery. The patient is reported to have already returned to work.
The technology has also been seen in various other non-standard medical circumstances. A hospital in the United Kingdom recently used 3D printing technology to reconstruct a man’s face that had been disfigured in a traumatic motorcycle accident.
The use of 3D printing is becoming increasingly popular in surgery and medical fields due to its many redeeming qualities. The technology is known to be one of the most innovative options in the medical field because of its rapid prototyping and manufacturing speed and accuracy. However, 3D printing is also proving to become gradually more controversial.
It is likely that as the technology becomes more readily available to the public, the threats associated with it will become more apparent. Some fear that 3D printing will be taken advantage of by the public and that people will choose to print things that could be dangerous, such as illegal knives and guns. The items printed would be difficult to track and would likely have very little oversight from officials.
Another concern with the 3D printing technology is that the materials used are often finite. Some of the known materials used currently are resin and plastic, which are not always disposed of properly.
Currently, 3D printers are not widely made and are high in demand, not only for professional fields, such as medicine or engineering, but in public use. As more people are informed of the technology, the demand for the machines to be made readily available to the public has been rising, although it seems that it is not yet ready for public release.
Although its presence seems to be advancing the possibilities of medicine greatly, the technology could potentially be dangerous if put into the wrong hands. For this reason, 3D printing should be left to the professionals until products can be monitored by officials for safety purposes.