Dr. Sathish Vasishta, a craniomaxillofacial surgeon, and Dr. Derick Mendonca, a consulting plastic surgeon, used a 3D printed model provided by Osteo3D, a Bangalore, India-based company backed by the df3d design factory, to successfully plan and perform an Orbital Hupertelorism surgical procedure at Sakra Hospital in Bangalore.

Sahas Softech LLP, based in India, is now making 3D printed heart exact replica models available for pediatric surgery.

36-year-old Rajesh Ojha, a mechanic, lost four fingers of his left hand in 2015 while working in industrial plants, received a prosthetic through the experimental venture between Mumbai-based (India)  Anatomiz3D Healthcare and Dr, Mukesh Doshi. The prosthetic modified was Gyrobot’s open source Flexy Hand 2 design produced after using a 3D printer and hand held scanner.

S. Ramadorai, Chairman, National Skill Development Agency, recently stated regarding lack of Doctors in rural areas, that 3D Printing is emerging as a breakthrough in medicine. Biological tissues are being globally printed, living organs will be a practical reality soon, and India needs to tackle shortage of Doctors with further refining of such technologies in our sector.

Surgeons in Sawai Man Singh hospital jaipur, india are now using 3D Printing Technology for removing gall bladder with cholelithiasis disease (Gall stones) and have conducted 22 successful surgeries so far within the last month. Doctors believe 3D Printing is better since the dual cameras in 3D technique provide 360 degree images, while with 2D Printing, they were only able to get 30 to 45 degrees angles and the surgeons have to rotate it while conducting the surgeries. Also, it reduced the time of surgery to 20-25 minutes.

Prashant Gade, a maker from Pune, India met a 5-year old girl who was missing both of her arms from the elbows down and he created Bio_Nick, a 3D printed electronic prosthetic arm actuated by signals from the foot for her. Motivated by the cause, Gade launched an Indiegogo Campaign with the goal of raising $150,000 and create more prosthetics for the children having similar difficulties in life.

A 53-year old patient was admitted to Bangalore's Health Care Global Hospital complaining of mouth ulcer, which was later diagnosed as Tongue cancer using the MRI scan. Surgical oncologist Dr. Vishal Rao and his team with Anatomiz3D used the MRI scan to create a 3D Model of patient's tongue which enabled them to digitally separate the tumor from the tongue and perform the surgery.

A team from the College of Engineering, Pune (CoEP) in India has developed unique software, which helped them make a 3D printed ear in just one week for 32-year-old patient from Kondhwa. The newly developed software is called Osto3D, and reduces the fabrication time greatly. The successful auricular prosthesis surgery was performed last month, when doctors from the Armed Forces Medical College (AFMC) attached the artificial ear.

Four students from MVJ College of Engineering, Bangalore had planned to 3D Print a Robotic Prosthetic Arm for their Final project in the college. But things were not easy, for which they turned to Fracktal Works, a Bangalore-based 3D Printing Company which helped the students to optimize their design for 3D printing and add a power source with 12 Gesture codes into the hand. The final device was 3D printed in PLA, in 40 parts, which was then assembled.

Dr. Rajiv Shah, an Orthopedic Surgeon at Global Hospital along with 3D Printing Startup 3D Post in Vadodara, India, has successfully implanted a 3D printed implant in a trauma patient which was first of its kind since it was the first patient-specific 3D printed trauma implant through a total talus replacement. The implant was 3D Printed using EOS M 280 3D Printer using titanium as the implant material for a 32-year old man from Guajarat, India who suffered an accident that resulted in the loss of his talus bone.

A group of researchers from the Sri Rajiv Gandhi College of Dental Sciences & Hospital in Bangalore, India evaluated the marginal accuracy of Cobalt-Chromium copings (thin covering of the tooth’s crown portion) fabricated using DMLS, computer-aided milling, traditional casting, and ringless casting and comparatively analyze the marginal discrepancy. They used typodont resin model made of silicone impression material and 40 copings, for which they used 3D laser scanner from 3Shape to obtain an indirect impression of the tooth model, and then used the data to design the coping in 3Shape’s CAD software program, before they were 3D printed on an EOSINT M 270 3D printer from EOS.

Oxford Performance Materials Inc., a Connecticut-based company known for its 3D Printed Implants close to bones with osteoconductive properties and PEKK, has recently been accredited as a foreign medical device manufacturer by the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labour, and Welfare. Now able to serve over 14 countries of Asia in a partnership with JSR Corp. of Tokyo, OPM looks forward to expanding the reach of 3D Printing to far horizons.

India is progressing towards 3D Printing too and seeks to harvest the benefits of this technology. Recently, two children in Manipal, India received 3D printed prosthetic limbs from the brand new 3D Printing Facility called Hastha Centre for Congenital Hand Differences, at the Department of Orthopedics at Kasturba Hospital. The prosthetics made at the center can be customized to any level of amputation, whether above or below the elbow or for missing or shortened fingers.

A Research paper was recently published by Preethy Ani Jose, with the Oxford College of Pharmacy, and Peter Christopher GV, from pharmaceutical company Strides Shasun Limited in Bangalore, concerning the challenges faced by Pharmaceuticals when being introduced with 3D Printing. The paper presents regulatory agencies expectations, limitations, problems in establishing such setups for production of drug products, etc. The research paper also discusses how 3D Printing faces challeneges such as proper testing of Design and Manufacturing Process Considerations, validating the 3D printing process and software to determine the level of accuracy, and documentation in order to confirm that any products conform to existing guidelines.

Anatomiz3D Medtech Private Limited, a Mumbai-based medical 3D printing company has announced its partnership with another Indian company, Incredible AM, a part of of Industrial Metal Powders Pvt Ltd in Pune, works with both the medical and engineering industries by providing metal 3D printing services. With the joint venture, the two companies aim to provide 3D Printing designs and plastic 3D printing skills while aiding surgical practices by simplifying and customizing operative planning and procedures in order to improve patient recovery quality, and to developing patient-specific tissue engineering solutions to help lower the need for organ donors in the future.

18-year-old Noor Fadil was diagnosed with Chondromyxoid fibroma, a rare, benign bone tumor that has grown in her pelvis, for which she reached out to Yellow Ribbon Team in Bangalore, India. The team of Doctors collaborated with Bangalore-based Osteo3D and implantcast GmbH in Germany. The surgeons removed the tumor and followed up for two years, and then team took CT and MRI scans to create a realistic digital model for planning purposes and to help design a biocompatible, patient-specific, 3D printed implant. The team designed and used 3D printed plastic guidance jigs and the First Ever Pelvic Implant of country helped her start a new life.

A Team of researchers from Boston and India used 3D Printing to enhance the Applicators used in PDT for Oral Cancer Treatment. PDT or Photodynamic Therapy is a light based spatially-targeted cytotoxic therapy that targets cancer cells. They developed an Intraoral Light Delivery System consisting of modular 3D Printed Light Applicators with pre-calibrated dosimetry and mouth props that can be utilized to perform PDT in conscious subjects without the need of extensive infrastructure or manual positioning of an optical fiber. The Applicators were tested on five subjects with T1N0M0 oral lesions where no residual cancer cells were noted after the treatment. The team used Autodesk Fusion 360 to design the light applicators, and they were printed on a Stratasys Objet Pro system out of VeroBlue and VeroBlack filament.