Perhaps the most immediate and life-affirming industries currently benefiting from 3D printing are the medical industries. The most common application may be the use of a patient’s medical imaging data, such as a CT scan, to create a 3D-printed medical model. These models can be used to diagnose an illness or even plan and rehearse a surgery, thus making a procedure more predictable and reducing time in the operating room. Taken a step further, this data can be used to created patient-specific implants that fit a patient perfectly.
When an implant, such as a cranial plate or hip bone, is printed with a porous structure, only possible with 3D printing, it encourages bone growth and makes it more quickly accepted by the patient’s body.
An increasing number of 3D-printed implants are now receiving regulatory certification.