An Australian-made 3D-printed sternum and rib cage has successfully been implanted into a 20-year-old New York patient who had been diagnosed with a rare bone cancer, the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) announced on Thursday.[that's a week ago]
The 3D-printed titanium and polymer sternum and rib cage was produced by the CSIRO in partnership with Melbourne-based medical device company Anatomics.
The patient, Penelope Heller, had to have her sternum removed after being diagnosed with chondrosarcoma in 2014. While the cancer was successfully removed, Heller's replacement sternum and rib cage that was developed using off-the-shelf solutions made post-operation life painful.
[...] The organisation claims it is the first time this technology has been used in the United States.
[...] The CSIRO and Anatomics had previously partnered to produce sternum and rib cage prosthetics for a 54-year-old sarcoma patient in Spain in 2015...Once the prosthetics were made, it was sent to Spain and implanted into the patient. 12 days after the surgery, the patient was discharged and recovered well, the CSIRO then said.
[...] That operation followed on from the production of a 3D-printed titanium heel bone that prevented an Australian cancer patient from having his leg amputated in 2014.
[...] A 61-year-old British man received 3D-printed titanium and polymer sternum in 2016 after his sternum was removed due to a rare infection. The CSIRO said it was the first time a titanium sternum combined with a synthetic polymer has been used to replace bone, cartilage, and tissue in a patient.
(Score: 2) by bob_super on Wednesday October 25 2017, @04:41PM (4 children)
Isn't one of the major points of 3D printing that you can make the thing fast locally?
If you're going to 3D-print it halfway around the world, maybe a local CNC guy would have been happy to be awarded the job...
(Score: 5, Insightful) by tfried on Wednesday October 25 2017, @04:51PM
Another major point of 3D printing is low volume production, with high precision. On the other side, I don't think this is the kind of thing you'll print in your generic reprap. Besides, getting the thing implanted was probably several thousand times the cost of flying it half-way around the world.
Personally, I wouldn't be any less impressed, if this was an all hand-made implant. Although yes, the prospect that this approach might scale to larger case numbers is certainly cool, too.
(Score: 2) by frojack on Wednesday October 25 2017, @06:49PM (1 child)
local cnc hacker isn't going to get it done quicker, won't have the materials, won't have the tools to handle the materials, and has never done anything even remotely like this before.
And you'd want that lashup embedded in your chest?
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
(Score: 2) by bob_super on Wednesday October 25 2017, @08:28PM
"local cnc hacker" is the best you could find between NY and Australia ?
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Wednesday October 25 2017, @08:26PM
Fast... I wouldn't call it so. Completely customized, "one-piece series", this is where the strength of 3D printing is.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 3, Interesting) by AssCork on Wednesday October 25 2017, @04:57PM (2 children)
One of the things that amazes me is how fast mankind develops and matures technology (like smartphones) but really important things like prosthetics and implants seem to lag decades (or centuries) behind.
I realize this is, at least in part, due to the vast amount of testing and regulation that is required for medical devices, but this is a step in the right direction.
One day, I seriously hope we'll look back on things like ShadowRun [wikia.com] and CyberPunk [wikipedia.org] (science fiction role-playing games) and laugh at how elementary ideas like a "cyber torso" or "full limb replacement" took so long to develop.
Just popped-out of a tight spot. Came out mostly clean, too.
(Score: 2) by HiThere on Wednesday October 25 2017, @05:11PM
I think you are vastly underrating the inherent problems with operations to replace bones or other internal organs. We'll be cyborgs a lot before that becomes routine. In fact, we may even do brain transplants into robot bodies before that becomes routine (although the brain transplant, itself, would be even worse of a problem...so it wouldn't be routine).
FWIW, we already have taken some steps toward cyborgism. Artificial lenses that focus, e.g. People just don't think of that as being cyborgs, but it is.
Javascript is what you use to allow unknown third parties to run software you have no idea about on your computer.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by bob_super on Wednesday October 25 2017, @05:51PM
The other problem is maintenance. Natural versions are easy to power and self-heal. Artificial replacements need better batteries than we have, and suffer from wear unless made of very expensive materials.
It's a lot easier to make a robot from scratch, than to try to graft one onto a filthy meatsack.