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Medical 3D printing technology is use of 3D printing services in the medical domain.
Earlier, when the 3D printing technology was just introduced and slowly was gaining the trust of the user, there was a vision of many medical scientists to introduce 3D printing technology into the medical field in many aspects.
Today the vision of the Medical 3D printing field has become an unbelievable reality as 3D printing is spread across the medical industry and entered into fields like medicine, dental, surgical, and even in organ sciences and many more are on the way.
As a matter of fact and analysis, it is predicted that the global 3D printing medical field is set to become a 60 billion dollar industry by 2030 (source: GlobalData )
More and more research is being done on how Medical 3D printing technology can be utilized in different areas and trying to find the number of ways where it can be regulated around the world.
Ex: Bioprinting (3D printing of living organs, tissue, bone, and blood vessels used for research, training, and testings.)
How can Medical 3D printing technology can be used in the medical field?
The technology has provided so much comfort to both doctors and patients because unlike traditional methods.
Additive manufacturing/3D printing does not need a whole lot of components and tons of equipment for creating the presurgical required items.
Also it helps in personalized treatment for patients and even improving medical education.
Let’s see how Medical 3D printing technology is changing the whole scenario of the medical world everywhere:
Preoperative or presurgical planning with personalized patient’s anatomy.
The technology is helping doctors to understand the patient’s anatomy in a personalized way before giving them an actual treatment.
It also helps in making the patient better understand the idea of what exactly the process is going to happen during his/her treatment.
It is also helping to avoid mistakes, wastage, and confusion by building better understanding between doctors and patients.
Model making and Planning for complex surgeries.
Medical 3D printing technology is Guiding medical researchers to come up with the proper planning for certain surgeries and complicated operations with the help of 3D printed models.
Recently an example of this came to the light when researchers of both China and the USA are taking the help of bio-printed tumour to discover an anti-cancer drug and to further educate themselves about causes, reasons, and treatment of the tumour development.
Medical science is also combining MRI with ultrasound visuals with 3D printing to help the doctors to understand more about fatal and complex surgeries.
3D printing of Biomaterials.
Medical 3d printing technology is on the way and the vision is to become extremely successful in tissue engineering.
In the coming future, technology is bringing some of the coolest inventions which can bring so much change especially in the field of organ transplant surgeries.
Have a look at these points:
- Blood vessels
Korean scientists have tried implanting the blood vessels made with the help of 3D printing into a rat and it turned out successful.
It is believed that 3D-printed blood vessels in the future can help to cure cardiovascular diseases in the future.
- Synthetically made organs
Researchers are already using 3D printing technology to develop all kinds of organs like kidneys, lungs, etc., and make these synthetic bio-printed organs implantable without any risk.
- Synthetic replica of ears and noses
3D printed moldes are being used to create synthetic replicas of ears and noses.
These moldes create replicas by filling the Bio printable gel which contains bovine cartilage cells.
This is helping the scientist to give treatment to people with skin cancers.
- Bioprinting in the dentistry
With the help Medical 3D printing technology researchers have now come into the field of dentistry with the idea of regenerating artificial dental tissues.
The researchers are using this technology to develop a 3D dental pulp complex with patient’s customized shapes.
A fibrin-based bio-ink is made for bioprinting the human dental pulp stem cells.
- Pharmaceuticals and studies
It is helping pharmaceuticals to discover and invent new drugs faster and more effectively.
Researchers in the pharmaceuticals refer to the bio-printed models and material to understand the complex diseases better and more deeply, thus this helps in inventing a new drug accordingly.
For example : The gelatin tablets is also a product of bioprinting.
Not only this, but these researches, bio-printed models, and materials are helping the medical students in better understanding of the human anatomy and diseases thus helping the world to get more practically educated researchers, doctors, scientists, and much more.
Medical students are getting detailed insights into the complex diseases that can affect the human body and practicing performing treatments on bio-printed Models.
Medical 3D printing Technology is also reducing animals killing that are being used during medical training and experiments.
Conclusion
Medical 3D printing technology has entered almost every field of health and medicine with the vision and hopes to provide better, faster, and effective healthcare.
It has brought both engineers and doctors to utilize 3D bioprinting in every way possible to provide the world with better healthcare.
And the day is not so far when these technologies and inventions will save the lives of millions as well as take us towards a healthier future.
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