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Print Yourself a Femur

Posted by michael on from the six-fingers dept.

Scrooge919 writes "Newscientist is running an article about a new 'bone printer' that can be used to replace segments of broken bones. A large segment could be fabricated in about an hour and would be able to support the person's weight. Over the course of about 18 months, the section is absorbed by the body and replaced with real bone."

13 of 54 comments (clear)

  1. Oh Oh... by jo42 · · Score: 5, Funny
    I can see it now:

    Subject: [ADV] Print yourself a bigger Penis!!!!

    1. Re:Oh Oh... by m_chan · · Score: 5, Funny

      Or worse, your inbox will be flooded with ads for cheap boner cartridges.

  2. A day late . . . by Leroy_Brown242 · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I just spent $7800 for the hospital to put 2 screw in my arm, and am still being told I will most likely never straighten my arm out again.

    I would gladly have spent 3 or 4 times that, to just improve my odds of throwing a baseball once more.

    I can't wait for Star Trek style medical prcedure where a broken bone is just an annoyance until the good doctor can run an LED flashlight over my skin./p

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  3. Sucks... by Bob+Vila's+Hammer · · Score: 3, Interesting

    That this technology is probably wonderfully applicable and needed now but won't be approved by the FDA for years, years to come.

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  4. i wanna print meh some horns! by baloogan · · Score: 4, Funny

    lol that would be cool!

    we could really BE darth maul for halloween

  5. FDA approval, and current needs by menscher · · Score: 5, Informative
    Here is an example use of this technology. The piece needed was to strengthen the jawbone of an elderly lady. We actually printed it out (plastic, not bone, but you get the idea), and it was shown to fit quite nicely during an operation.

    The problem? FDA won't let the doctors leave it in there. They just got to put it in place and take a few pics before removing it again. So the woman still has a weakened jawbone, despite the fact that the technology exists to help her.

    1. Re:FDA approval, and current needs by menscher · · Score: 3, Informative

      Sorry for the second post, but here's a lot more information on that project, including a picture of the operation itself.

  6. disappointment by austad · · Score: 3, Funny

    At first, I was like "Sweet! I've always wanted a furry little animal with a long tail and monkey-like qualities!"

    But then I realized I was thinking about a Lemur. When will someone release a Lemur machine?

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    1. Re:disappointment by Jerf · · Score: 4, Funny

      Well, I think these guys can probably help.

      I recommend getting two; lemur production doesn't work so well with only one lemur machine. Make sure they are compatible; there are two types and you need one of each.

      By the way, it's quite likely that local laws will prevent you from owning a lemur-producing machine. Many types of lemur-producing machines are very rare and once they break, they can't be fixed, so if they all break that's it for lemur-machines. As a result many governments are quite protective of them.

      Also, operation of the lemur machines in such a manner that they will actually produce lemurs and not just consume resources may be very, very tricky; I'm not certain but I do know a lot of other, similar machines often take many skilled experts to cause to produce.

      Anyhow, they're not as user-friendly as you'd like and you can't just pick them up at Best Buy, but you can probably get some lemur machines if you really put your mind to it. Best part of all is there are billions of years behind their development, so they are pretty sophisticated.

  7. Dogs by Luigi30 · · Score: 4, Funny

    Now when you have a dog, don't dig up a corpse for that bone, just print one out!

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  8. Government by Orne · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Imagine, there was a time in the USA before the FDA even existed (1930 to be exact). More recently, there was a time when medicine was a private industry in the USA, and people didn't give a rats ass about getting the government's approval for medical devices (1966).

    Somehow, in 37 years out of the 227 years this country has existed, the nation now thinks that medical advances can only exist after a lengthy approval process, complete with beurocratic red tape, medicare approval, and gov overhead.

    Yes, the government oversees the distribution and purity of drugs, the quality of foodstuffs, and qualifications of our doctors. All that is fine and good. But why have we let ourselves be roped into holding back life-altering discoveries that work just because it doesn't have some commission's stamp on it?

  9. Printing living tissues by Cochonou · · Score: 4, Interesting

    On a related note, check this older article.
    It is about printing tissues with modified inkjet printers, a prospect which seems even more fascinating than artificial bone replacements.

  10. Teeth? by cperciva · · Score: 4, Interesting

    It seems to me that the ideal application for manufactured bones would be dentistry. After all, teeth are by far the most commonly damaged or destroyed bones. Of course,there are artificial implants right now, but I'm sure many people would prefer to have "real" teeth instead.

    My only question: Is this technique applicable to teeth, or is the mouth too hostile an environment?

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