October 12, 2015
By Kyle Krajewski
3D printing is arguably the most exciting new piece of technology in the current age. Could its next breathtaking innovation be to print actual flesh and bone? With VisMed-3D’s Print Your Own Body Part session at Chicago Ideas Week, we’re about to find out.
Dima Elissa is CEO and Co-Founder of VisMed-3D, the company that is reimagining biomedical research and patient care as we know it through utilization of the 3D printer. During her CIW session, she will be will be leading participants in a hands-on demonstration of the facility’s cutting-edge technology and it’s capabilities.
“We want to demystify 3D printing technology and capability,” Elissa told The Idea Forge. “One of the things we want to do is level set an understanding of what 3d printing is, what it isn’t, and essentially what’s possible today, what’s unrealistic today, and what is highly possible for the future.”
Within the realm of what this includes is printing nanostructures, printing pills and personalizing dosages, and even printing organs.
Being the sports fan that I am, I was instantly curious—could these developments potentially solve the issue of high injury rates for professional athletes who are essentially using their bodies at the highest physical level possible?
The short answer is yes. 3D printing can do this largely in three ways:
Analysis & prevention
With this new technology, they are able to take an external scan of a part of your body and provide a digital file which can be manipulated to achieve a variety of outcomes for analysis—be it human factor, biomechanics, whatever. This then can be used to customize and design human devices that will help in the comfort or overall accommodation of the body in question. Naturally, this knowledge will lead to more effective protective equipment for athletes across the board.
“Especially as it relates to the headgear,” Elissa noted—and that’s something the NFL in particular needs. “If we can help to design a better, lighter weight, more resilient sports protective device—that’s really an area that we can see tremendous new hybrid materials coming on board, merging carbon fiber and various nylons, will produce a variety of different executions.”
This is an approach that has already taken place to change the world of snowboard. Check out what Burton has done for their bindings here.
Reduced OR time
In the NFL it seems like every minute someone is getting hurt, tearing an ACL, breaking a foot, or something else that requires surgery—just to get back out on the field and break it again. 3D printing will revolutionize the effectiveness of that operation.
It could reconstitute a model of the 2-dimensional images examined pre-operatively by doctors to more fully formed images of the injured body segment which we would printed it out in three dimensions.
“This gives doctors a really intimate look at what they’re about to dive into on the table before they get in there and do all of that discovery work,” Elissa said. “It’s a tremendously valuable tool that is already demonstrating a return on investment from the standpoint of reduced OR time, higher utilization of facilities, reduced errors, and better patient outcome.”
Body part replacement
This is really crazy and hopeful, but also a reality—but 3D printing will eventually be able to print legitimate replacements for damaged body parts. Think about the devastation you feel when the best player on your fantasy team is diagnosed as out for the season with a torn ACL. Now imagine if doctors were able to just put a new one in there and get him back out on the field.
Sounds unlikely—but just last December doctors at Columbia University were able to recreate the meniscus of a goat with a 3D printed implant infused with human growth factors that prompt the body to regenerate the lining on its own. Check it out. The future is insane.
See, hear, and experience all of this firsthand at Chicago Ideas Week. If you can’t physically make it there to attend, stay tuned with The Idea Forge as we’ll be there exploring, experiencing, and reporting all of the cool goings on right here.
Featured, Sports
http://theideaforge.com/3d-printing-will-solve-sports-injuries-and-all-of-the-nfls-problems/
http://theideaforge.com/3d-printing-will-solve-sports-injuries-and-all-of-the-nfls-problems/
