8 month old suffering Craniosynostosis, a rare congenital skull deformity was treated using 3D printing technology to produce exact replica model of his skull. Surgery was conducted on May 21 at Shanghai Children’s Medical Center and saw the power of 3D Printing as a future perspective.

After arriving at ER of Chung-Ang University Hospital, South Korean Woman was diagnosed with Subarachnoid Brain Hemorrhage following CT scans confirmation. As the brain collapsed, patient needed skull transplant for which the neurosurgeons approached to 3D Printed Skull using pure titanium.

Bentley Yoder, a 7-month old was born with encephalocele, rare congenital defect that causes brain to grow outside of the skull. Using 3D Printing technology, Dr. John Meara at Boston Children’s Hospital was able to perform reconstructive surgery and 5 hours later, Bentley was reported to be doing well in recovery.

Researchers at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory are working on 18-month study in collaboration with Autodesk Research, a 3-D design software company, to design the helmet that can prevent brain injuries suffered in sports. Experimenting on different materials for the Helmet, Silicone seems to be perfect for foam pads while they will continue to patent new discovering during the on-going project.

Dr. Jose Gurrola, an assistant professor of rhinology at UVA has initiated a program that will involve students practicing nasal endoscopy on 3D Printed Skulls. They can introduce a camera in front of the nose and perform nasal endoscopy virtually, so as to learn hand-eye coordination, learned movement and ways of minimizing any collateral damage to patients of chronic recurring sinusitis, chronic upper respiratory infections, severe nasal obstructions, nose bleeds, etc.