3D printing can save lives

Roberto Saracco May 28, 2015 Blog 145 Views

3D printing allows for accurate creation of objects that would close to impossible to create in other ways. 
Doctors at the University of Michigan C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital have used 3D printing to save three children from tracheobronchomalacia, a condition that makes breathing impossible because the airways leading to the lungs collapse blocking air flow. This condition appears in the very first months of a baby life and has always been fatal. New technology can force ventilation but this requires contnuous hospitalisation and cannot restore normal life.
The doctor have scanned the windpipes of the three children using a CT scan and a computer to drive a 3D printer to reproduce with accuracy their windpipes. Then, still using 3D printing they have created splints and implanted them to keep the airways open. The material used for the splint is re-assorbed over time and through this process the trachea and bronchi strengthen.
The splint implant was done in 2013 and now after two years the doctors report the success. The three children have grown up like any other children and this is probably the best application I have seen so far for 3D printing! Take a look at the clip and I am sure you will agree with me.

About Roberto Saracco

Roberto Saracco fell in love with technology and its implications long time ago. His background is in math and computer science. Until April 2017 he led the EIT Digital Italian Node and then was head of the Industrial Doctoral School of EIT Digital up to September 2018. Previously, up to December 2011 he was the Director of the Telecom Italia Future Centre in Venice, looking at the interplay of technology evolution, economics and society. At the turn of the century he led a World Bank-Infodev project to stimulate entrepreneurship in Latin America. He is a senior member of IEEE where he leads the New Initiative Committee and co-chairs the Digital Reality Initiative. He is a member of the IEEE in 2050 Ad Hoc Committee. He teaches a Master course on Technology Forecasting and Market impact at the University of Trento. He has published over 100 papers in journals and magazines and 14 books.

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