Patient with Ankle deformity usually undergo surgery taking other bones from the patient to repair the defect part, which is often painful with prolonged recovery. However, Surgeons at Southeast Hospital, China, used 3D Printed implant and fixation plate to replace the defect part.

Titanium-Aluminum mixture has been used for 3D Printed Implants already, and have been effective so far. However, researchers from Agency for Science, Technology and Research, Singapore (A*STAR) have developed Titanium-Tantalum mixture that is more potent that traditional Titanium-Aluminum mixture.

Italy’s National Institute of Rome Tumori Regina Elena, Cancer surgical center, became the first hospital in the nation to use customized titanium implants to repair bones damaged by bone cancer (Osteosarcoma). The prosthetic implants were 3D printed in titanium using an Arcam electron beam melting (EBM) process with Sicily-based 3D printing services provider Mt. Ortho.

A patient from South Korea, formerly serving in military, suffered a cancerous tumor in his heel, for which Dr. Hyun Guy had to either amputate the foot or approach conventional techniques. Approaching 3D Printing, Doctors at National Cancer 3d printed the heel bone implant of patient avoiding the former options.

On june 5th, InssTek Korea and Z3DLAB France announced partnership and deployment of ZTi-Powder® and ZTi-Med® on InssTeks product line repair for Orthopedic Implant market and Aeronautics sector. InssTek metal surface coatings applied to orthopedic implants, allow a three-dimensional interconnected array of pores throughout the coating thickness while Z3DLAB will provide non-toxic coating.

In the 50 Most Innovative Companies in World 2016, Fast Company has named Oxford Performance Materials in the list for their SpineFab® VBR implant system. It received 510(k) clearance from the FDA in July of 2015. OPM also provides third parties with contract manufacturing services for a wide spectrum of 3D printed biomedical implant applications.

Researchers at University of North Carolina and North Carolina State University have developed a Prosthetic Implant that can be fitted as per amputee requirement and timing. These implants need t conform to patient's specific anatomy and require 12 month rehabilitation. However, FDA has not approved implanted prosthetic sockets for general use; but only for research purposes.

An adolescent girl suffering from Tracheobronchomalacia, a rare congenital breathing disorder, recently underwent a surgery at CS Mott Children's Hospital, receiving the 3D Printed Tracheal Splint. Using Polycaprolactone and MRI & CTs, Dr Glenn Green was able to print the Splint-supported Trachea.

Facial Prototyping has been performed with 3D Systems Model 660 Pro by Dr. Avsar in New York and Rhinoplasty Implants by Dr. Pablo Prichard out of Phoenix which are made of FDA approved material. FACS (Facial Active Coding System) has helped creating the grids for Craniofacial planning to be used for Rhinoplasty Implants.

Jake Reynolds from Glendale was rushed to HonorHealth John C. Lincoln Medical Center in Phoenix where doctors found his whole face was crushed like pulp and required Facial Reconstruction. Luckily, Dr. Pablo Prichard was working as the trauma surgeon on the floor who used a high-definition CT scan to develop a 3-D printed implant to reconstruct Reynold’s face.

Team of researchers at German Chemical Company, Evonik have developed 3d printed biocompatible implants as a substitute for metal implants with advantage of easy absorbability by human body. This 3D Printed biocompatible material will slowly dissolve inside bone as it heals, thereby eliminating need for surgical procedure.

Additive Orthopaedics, company specializing in additively manufactured surgical solutions, recently announced that it has successfully treated a series of patients suffering from painful hammertoes with its 3D printed hammertoe implant, which was recently cleared by FDA. While Greg Kowalczyk, President and Founder of Additive Orthopaedics, believes it was only possible with 3D Printing, he stated company is expected to get good response.

University of Wollongong, Australia has rolled out a free online course on Medical Bio-Printing that will teach the participants about the basics of 3D Printing body parts such as hip implants and facial implants. The 4-week interactive course will teach the story of 3D Printing revolution, introduce participants with commonly used biomaterials, including metals, ceramics and polymers, and how bioprinting techniques, such as selective laser melting, hot-melt extrusion and inkjet printing, work. Finally, the participants can grab their own Certificate of Achievement after completing the course.

Inside 3D Printing Conference & Expo San Diego is going to take place on December 14 and 15 at the San Diego Convention Center, of which the four tracks for the show have been announced recently : The Business Track, The Manufacturing Track, The Medical Track and The Metal Track. The Medical Track at the show will offer insight into the design and manufacturing of customized implants, dental devices, tissues, etc. using a variety of additive technologies. Registration is currently open until September 16.

A 10-year Forecast and Opportunity Analysis report by Whatech has revealed that revenues from additive manufacturing (AM) in the dental sector have grown almost 12 percent since 2015 and the market is expected to see boom with development of 3D Printing Technology for researches like Custom Braces, Gums and Jaws Implants, etc. The report explains how development of new 3D printers, materials, and applications is the strongest targets for the development and how it is expected to grow in upcoming years.

From 3D Printed Prosthetics, Super-Healing Casts, Hairs, Skin and 3D Printed Micro-Lens for surgery to Implants of almost every body part, 3D Printing is helping in medical field making everything possible for the miserable lives of patients. But what is the future of 3D Printing? One day we will be able to 3D Print entire human body from simple DNA, as some researchers have already started to work on 3D Printing Real Organs for transplants in human bodies.

Melbourne neurosurgeon Paul d'Urso and founder of Anatomics had been making customized 3D print cranial implants such as custom sternum and ribcage for cancer patients. But the Australian Private Funds have denied rebates as the 3D printed implants are not regulated or listed on the federal government's Prostheses list. They are looking forward for more support so that the industry would be able to process Australia's abundant titanium into the inks and powders used in 3D printing.

A 60-year-old man in Croatia had been suffering from an infection in his shoulder, resulting in him losing bone mass and mobility of his shoulder joint. A team of surgeons led by Nikola Matejčić, MD at the Clinic for Orthopaedics in Lovran, implanted a 3D Printed Shoulder which was created using a technology of additive manufacturing, namely the Trabecular Titanium 3D printing technology.

A team of researchers from TU Delft have developed hybrid materials which can be used to 3D Print Hip Implants with enhanced bone growth and increased life-span. The new implant will combine a conventional meta-biomaterial with an auxetic one, a complex stretching property. These 3D Printed Hybrid Implants are expected to have greater longevity and fix better than current hip implants.

Paul D’Urso, MD, a neurosurgeon at Epworth Healthcare and the Executive Chairman of Australian medical device company Anatomics, together with Dr. Dan Rowe, engineers from the medical device company designed a 3D printed, patient-specific metacarpal implant to replace a patient’s two missing metacarpals and missing capitate that had resulted from his injury.  The implant was designed with titanium mesh and patient’s hand reconstruction surgery took place at Greenslopes Private Hospital in Queensland.

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.

Ti6Al4V, a biomedical implant, is a titanium alloy with biocompatibility, mechanical properties, and excellent corrosion resistance but poor wear resistance, corrosion and stability. The researchers from Jiangsu University used Laser Peening (LP), a laser surface modification technology, to modify Ti6Al4V and the results concluded that the surface micro-hardness value of the LP-treated Ti6Al4V sample increased by 25.7%, showing that LP was able to strengthen its surface. Additionally, the results of the experiment showed that after being treated with LP, the specimen did have better wear resistance than the untreated one; laser energy and impact time also helped improve the wear resistance of the LP specimen.

Researchers at New York University developing 3D Printed Ceramic Implants that dissolve slowly within the body, stimulating bone to grow in their place, thereby helping in restoring the bone defects that cannot be filled with allograft or autografts. The ceramic implant contains beta tricalcium phosphate, similar to components in natural bone, making the implants resorbable over time and are coated with dipyridamole, a blood thinning agent that stimulates bone growth and attracts bone cells to the implant.

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.

Next 21 K.K., after receiving a commercialization approval in Japan and Europe, has announced formal approval for a new technology to 3D print synthetic bone grafts, called CT-Bone, which is a 3D printable, calcium phosphate implant that’s actually converted into real bone by the patient’s own body. After a CT-scan, Next21 K.K.’s biomedical team create a patient-specific implant (PSI), which can incorporate porosity and match the patient’s anatomy perfectly, which helps facilitate bony ingrowth and good bone-to-implant contact.

A group of researchers from Jiangsu University tested Laser Peening (LP), a laser surface modification technology, to increase the wear resistance of most common titanium alloy for implants, the Ti6Al4V alloy. Cut samples of alloy of 40 x 20 x 4 mm rectangular shapes, with 4 mm thickness were treated with Laser Peening and then tested for surface roughness and micro-hardness at Nanjing University of Aerospace and Astronautics in China. The promising results concluded 25.7% increased wear resistance in LP-Treated Ti6Al4V samples compared too untreated ones.

Source: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0030399217319230

A team of researchers from China and Taiwan used Aerosol Jet 3D printing to develop a neuronal interface for implants with prolonged anti-inflammatory ability, structural and mechanical properties that mimicked brain tissue, and a sustained nonfouling property in order to inhibit tissue encapsulation. The team developed a new type of anti-inflammatory nanogel, based on the amphiphilic polydimethylsiloxane-modified N, O-carboxylic chitosan (PMSC) incorporated with oligo-proanthocyanidin (OPC), called OPMSC which was directly fabricated onto a membrane using aerosol jet printing technology.

Dr. Les Kalman at Western University’s Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry has developed a dental implant abutment system called the Tempcap in collaboration with ADEISS, a 3D Printing Company dedicated to medical and dental 3D printing solutions. Using Renishaw 3D printers,  ADEISS worked on designing and 3D printing a version of the dental device in dental-grade titanium for testing, which was proved to increase the provisional crown quality and reduce the time required to fabricate the provisional crown for mandibular implant sites.

Two Maxillofacial Surgeons, Clossman and Houlton from VA Puget Sound Health Care Center, with help from radiologists using CT scans, created exact replicas of three patients’ mandibles, using the hospital’s Stratasys 3D printer. These models allowed the surgeons to compare standard mandibular implants to the 3D printed replicas, adjusting the size and shape as needed. The 3D printed custom mandible models was made in 2hours with OR time estimated at about $80 a minute, avoiding anesthesia workup and surgery planning.

Surgical Removal of tumours, especially in Oral Cancer patients, is disfiguring and cannot be completely recovered even after reconstruction surgeries. But Titanium implants have shown promises in the field of reconstruction surgeries, and now, Russian researchers are trying to figure out osseous integration occurring with titanium implants in animals, post re-section, and studying both the implanting and then the required removal of prosthesis meant to be temporary. Titanium bionic implants, tetragonal-shaped, were fabricated to mimic human bone and a Russian-made selective laser melting (SLM) printer was used with Titanium VT1-00 powder. The researchers concluded Clear Establishment that the insertion of the implant led to tissue growth over the device, but with no inflammation detected.

Researchers from Taiwan worked on improved methods of accommodating bone defects after failed implants must be removed using 3D Printing. Bio-Active Dental implant, which were manufactured with laser-sintered additive 3D printing technique, were used in animal experiments where one side of distal femurs was randomly selected for the commercially pure titanium NobelActive implant (control group) and the other side with Bio-Active Ti₆Al₄V porous dental implant (ITRI group). After Bio-printing with EOSINT M 280 system, the researchers concluded that by enlarging pore width at the nanoscale, they can to increase bioactivity features as well as accelerate osseogenesis during Dental Surgeries.

An international Team of Bioengineers from the Bio-Microrobotics Laboratory of the Daegu Gyeongbuk Institute of Science and Technology (DGIST) partnered with the Ajou University and Microsystems Lab of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne (EPFL), using the Nanoscribe Photonic Professional system to create microstructure scaffolds for the Cochlear implant. Accompanied by a high-precision 3D printed steroid reservoir with a 2D MEMS-based electrode array, the medical device- “Germany’s Nanoscribe” is meant to allow patients to hear better—and by avoiding insertion trauma, preserves what hearing ability they still possess. The implant is designed to reduce the damage of residual hearing against electrode insertion trauma.