Revolutionizing Medicine: The Impact of 3D Printing on Healthcare

3D printing, more technically known as additive manufacturing, is not as new as people think. It dates back to the 1980s, but in recent years has become a popular manufacturing method for many Xometry customers, including those in aerospace, automotive, architecture, education, jewelry, and art. In medicine and healthcare, it has impressively been used to make prosthetics, medical equipment, and even replacement organs. While Xometry hasn’t 3D printed any organs on-demand (yet?), there are plenty of other applications in this field we have worked on with our medical and healthcare customers.

In this article, we’ll go over everything there is to know about 3D printing in the medical and healthcare industries.

What Is Medicine and Healthcare?

First, let’s briefly cover exactly what we mean by medicine and healthcare. These are umbrella terms that refer to all the practices and procedures involved in the prevention, treatment, relief, and cure of illnesses, diseases, injuries, and other medical conditions, both physical and mental.

“Medicine” is used to describe aspects that doctors and medical professionals have to deal with, like prescribing actual medication, treating patients, performing surgeries, and psychiatric services. “Healthcare” is a broader term that covers medicine as well as support services, like pharmacists, therapists, and even those who design and make medical equipment.

How 3D Printing Technology Helps Medicine and Healthcare?

Traditional manufacturing in healthcare involves a lot of manual labor to create medical equipment from scratch. The process takes the raw materials and removes sections via grinding, carving, and machining until the final product is made. 3D printing has made the process easier, much less labor-intensive, and sometimes quicker and cheaper. 

3D printing doesn’t shape a slab of material to make the products but rather builds them layer by layer using filaments, resins, or fused powders. The product’s designs are typically created using computer-aided design (CAD) software, but it is also possible to create models from 3D scans performed by digital resonance imaging (MRI) machines. In healthcare, you can find both large-scale 3D printing manufacturers like Xometry and point-of-care printing facilities.

A Brief History of 3D Printing in Healthcare

Although it’s not quite 150 years old, the first-ever sign that humans were on the right track when it comes to 3D printing was in the 1860s when François Willème, a French artist, invented the “photo sculpting” method. This involved taking pictures (well, it would have been drawings in those days) of an object from many different angles and then using those images to make a 3D representation. 

A whole hundred and some years later, in 1985, an American from Colorado called Chuck Hall invented the first solid imaging process, also known as stereolithography. This was the first step towards the creation of 3D printers. The healthcare industry started using 3D printing in 2000, and a year later the first synthetic scaffolds for human bladder tissue were 3D printed. In 2008, the first-ever 3D-printed prosthetic leg was made.

Since then there have been many advancements in relation to 3D printing in medicine and healthcare. Blood vessels were 3D bioprinted (a process integrating living cells and biomaterials) in 2009, and 3D-printed human liver tissue was commercially launched in 2014. Scientists started bioprinting hearts and lung sacs in 2019. A year later, British biotech company FABRX brought out a personalized medicine-making machine called M3DIMAKERTM. The sector has only advanced since then, with 3D printing being commonplace within medicine and healthcare.

What Are the Things that the 3D Printer Can Do for Medicine and Healthcare?

3D printing has been massively adopted in the medical and healthcare industries, in large part due to the fact that everything can be customized and patient-specific. These include spinal and orthopedic implants, prosthetic limbs, sockets, and parts, dental crowns, bridges, and other orthodontic devices, drug formulations, and delivery devices (i.e., inhalers, patches, and implants), hearing aids, and detailed anatomical models based on real patients and their personal needs.

But that’s not all! It’s commonly used for specialized and patient-specific surgical tools, procedural guides, and even facial reconstruction. What’s more, quick and precise design adjustments can be made using the surgeons’ valuable feedback. 3D-printed implants are made via many different 3D printing processes in a variety of materials—both of which we will cover further down. For now, let’s take a more in-depth look at some of these applications. 

Implants

Being able to quickly and accurately design and produce customized implants for patients, including dental, spinal, and hip implants, has greatly improved the world of medicine. These personalized parts have the ability to reduce surgery time, complications, having to manually alter standard-sized implants, and the number of invasive bone graft surgeries that doctors have to carry out. All these factors lead to speedier patient recovery and greater chance of success.

Prosthetics

The ability to personalize 3D-printed prosthetics is undoubtedly one of the most impressive ways the method is being used in healthcare, and it has proved to be a total game-changer for amputees. These parts, which include arms and legs, perfectly match the patient’s body for greater comfort and functionality. Traditional prosthetics and their components are notoriously expensive (anywhere from $1,500 to $8,000) and need extensive and rather invasive regular manual adjustments. Not to mention that they take a long time to be ordered and made.

A 3D-printed prosthetic is often more cost-effective. It also has a quick turnaround time (in some cases as little as a day) and requires much less adjusting thanks to its being completely bespoke. These factors are particularly useful for children who quickly outgrow their prosthetics. 3D printing also helps make the not-very-pleasant process a little more tolerable for children and adults alike as they get to choose the different colors, designs, and styles of their prosthetics.

Anatomical Replicas

In addition to prosthetics, anatomical replicas for use in education, training, and pre-surgery planning can be created. These prints very closely, if not precisely, mimic real organs that are designed from the patient’s actual imaging data to allow the practitioners to rehearse their surgeries before the big event. Complicated surgeries can be simulated, allowing doctors and trainees to improve their skills and confidence for fewer complications, and a greater chance of success. At Xometry we offer full-color printing via PolyJet 3D printing technology, which allows us to create life-like replicas with realistic textures and colors. You can learn more about that technology on our PolyJet service page.

Organ and Tissue Printing

Bioprinting, not a service Xometry offers, has been used to create scaffolds resembling human tissue have been the first step in the manufacturing of 3D-printed organs and tissues. While 3D-printed organs, like livers and kidneys, are not entirely mainstream yet, a lot of progress is being made. Researchers are constantly working on new technologies and approaches to bring these out as soon as possible. These machine-made organs have the potential to save millions of lives as ailing folk won’t need to be put on long waiting lists or just hope for the best.

Other Applications

For greater precision and customization, medical devices and tools specifically tailored to each patient can be (and are being) 3D printed within healthcare. The method is also being used for custom medication doses and formulas. This reduces the chance of unpleasant side effects. As an example, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved Spritam, an epilepsy drug, made via 3D printing. The process improved this medication and made it easier to dissolve than other pills.