First 3D printed vertebra implanted

[Angry Floof]

12-Year-Old Receives First 3D Printed Vertebra Implant

After a soccer injury revealed a malignant tumor on the spinal cord of a 12-year-old boy from China, he required extensive surgery at Peking University Third Hospital (PUTH). Doctors needed to remove second vertebra to prevent the cancer from spreading, and the bone required an implant afterward. The device used was created with a 3D printer, making the boy the first person ever to receive a vertebral implant crafted in this manner.

I liked this part: "Unlike traditional 3D printers that extrude plastic, this implant was made out of a titanium powder." Technology is moving so fast that there's now a type of 3D printer considered "traditional."

 

[Celldweller]

It's an amazing fusion of technology and medicine. If I was a med student, rather than join the shit-show of corporatized practice, I'd be looking at regenerative medicine as the place to be.

 

[thebeave]

I wonder if that 3D printer could make me a "bigger one"?

 

[hurtinbuckaroo]

I wonder if that 3D printer could make me a "bigger one"?

Out of titanium???