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Man Has 75% of Skull Replaced By 3D-Printed Materials
redletterdave writes "An un-named male patient in the U.S. has had 75 percent of his skull replaced with 3D printed materials. The undisclosed patient had his head imaged by a 3D scanner before South Windsor, Conn.-based Oxford Performance Materials (OPM) gained approval from US regulators to print the bone replacement. OPM's final skull replacement was built within two weeks, and inserted in the patient's skull in an operation performed earlier this week; this cutting-edge procedure was only just revealed on Friday. OPM's 3D-printed process was granted approval by the FDA back on Feb. 18, which means the company can now provide 3D printed replacements for bones damaged by trauma or even disease. The company says this technique could benefit more than 500 U.S. citizens each month, from injured factory or construction workers to wounded soldiers."
Finally a solution for people without any backbone.
If printing skulls becomes common practice, it's going to make AdBlock a lot less effective. I really don't want to be seeing some banner ad just because I sat behind the wrong person on the bus.
#DeleteChrome
Can you spell "Minbari"? ;-)
Ezekiel 23:20
Trauma injury that caused 75% of the skull to be destroyed surely must have a huge impact on the brain. Hopefully the patient isn't in a vegetative state...
I'm curious if it is what we would consider 3d printed. Not that it isn't cool, I just know it's popular to latch onto a new buzztech word because of the press.
Of course not, those require an advanced 3D printing technique that we won't see for at least a few more weeks.
Hidden in the rectum != Replacement
No, brain dead, more like Texas.
I got here through a series of tubes
Poor guy will never be able to ride a saucer sled down a hill again. "...if this gets dented then my hair just ain't gonna look right."
to bamboo.
Abstract
What? Tattoos? 1960s! Piercings? 1980s! These things where they burn you, or slice you? 2000s! No man, the next thing is to have your scalp removed and then you have a 3D-printed, transparent skull with LEDs mounted inside! Maybe even multi-color ones to indicate your mood!
pics or it didnt happen
You asked for it.
http://www.technewsdaily.com/images/i/000/011/153/original/osteofab-cranial-device.jpg?1362591104
TFA says they use some sort of plastic called polyetherketoneketone (PEKK) so I'm guessing structual strength won't be a major selling feature.
Yes they can. It has already been done. http://www.geek.com/articles/geek-cetera/elderly-woman-has-lower-jaw-replaced-with-3d-printed-titanium-implant-2012026/
The first hit on 'polyetherketoneketone' on a well-known search engine reads as follows:
--frank[at]unternet.org
Can someone knowledgeable (i.e. not speculating) or working in the medical device industry explain why we can't use some really hard material like a titanium alloy or Kevlar to make the skull bullet-proof, especially for those in combat?
Transfer of Kinetic Energy. If you just used a hard bullet proof material the kinetic energy would pass straight through and liquefy the brain.
To make a bullet proof skull you would have to use a hard outer shell, a collapsable inner filler to absorb the kinetic energy and a hard inner shell to prevent spalling from shredding the brain. With current materials science it would be ridiculously thick and heavy and cause more problems than it would solve unless you could reinforce the spine and neck muscles, and it would have to be replaced/rebuilt after every impact.
Take a look at the size and thickness of current combat helmets to see what I mean, and remember that current helmets will not stop a high caliber round or an armor piercing one in a direct impact. They only protect against shrapnel, glancing blows from assault rifle rounds and some light pistol rounds under the right conditions. They have to be discarded after one serious protective use as they are designed to stop the damage by sacrificing their structural integrity (they only stop one hit in the same spot).
They forgot to mention that it was adamantite.
Serious? Seriousness is well above my pay grade.
They also omitted that the procedure was done by Cyberdyne Systems.
In 2007, hunters shot an Alaskan bald eagle in the face and left her for dead, but she was then found by Jane Fink Cantwell, a bird conservationist. The bird’s entire upper beak had been shot off, the equivalent of losing a limb for birds that use their beaks for feeding and preening feathers, and clearly a death sentence for this majestic creature. Janie and her small volunteer staff at the Raptor Chapter kept the bird alive through liquid tube-feeding until mechanical engineer Nate Calvin was able create a prosthetic beak using a 3D printed nylon-based polymer. This magnificent bird of prey has since recovered to full health and has been named Beauty, and most deservedly so. http://birdsofpreynorthwest.org/beauty-and-the-beak-project/ This work was much more of an effort to increase the quality of the bird's captive life, rather than facilitate a release back into the wild with a new beak, but that should not restrict future projects. Contrary to initial thoughts, the beak actually needs to be ‘weaker’ not ‘stronger’ since the limitation is the connection points and the purchase available at those attachments. A new design is in the planning stages which will have ‘give points’ designed to allow the beak to flex before damage can be done at the connection points. http://i.ytimg.com/vi/y5BYcu1glK4/0.jpg The success of this project has led to the consideration of how 3D printing can be applied to the rehabilitation of other animals afflicted with similar damage. With the financial rise of the Chinese has also come a growth in the black market trafficking of endangered species body parts. These most famously include shark fins and tiger penis, sometimes for consumption, sometimes for pseudo-scientific medicine. One of the most horrific trends is the growth in illegal poaching of rhinos for their highly prized horns. A single specimen can now command up to $500,000 from Chinese buyers. In the most recent cases, well-funded poachers with high powered rifles and night vision goggles have been flying night raids into nature reserves by private helicopter. Upon immobilising these magnificent creatures, they proceed to hack off the horns, either with machetes or chainsaws. Unsurprisingly, few of the rhinos survive, situations quite similar to enormous sharks killed simply for a single fin. Printing a replacement horn for a rhino is obviously many magnitudes more difficult that printing a beak for an eagle, but this is a project that is being pursued. Designing a replacement is feasible from a mechanical standpoint, but has some incredible challenges from a practical viewpoint (controlling the animal during and after the procedure, limiting/assessing a ‘typical’ use/load scenario after attachment). Excerpted from "3D Printing - The Next Techologoy Goldrush"