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Teenager can walk again thanks to Dutch 3D printed spinal implant

dutchnews.nl

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Re: Teenager can walk again thanks to Dutch 3D printed spinal implant

#31

Post by ineedasername »

jwp23 wrote: post #5
ineedasername wrote: post #3

This is pretty awesome. And sure, right now it's limited to high end tech at the bleeding edge of medicine, but I fully hope this will inspire the current gen owners of glowforges, makerbots, xcarves, and all of their off-brand alternatives to begin making over-engineered, novel, and interesting finger splints or Band-Aids or other diy-friendly med tech.

I have a friend whose son was born with a partial hand. They were able to use 3D printing to make a prosthetic that was cheap enough they could make new ones as he grew. IIRC, they could do themes such as iron man for the prosthetic.

I love it! In some ways these printers are only begining to exit the novelty phase (I mean the consumer versions) and already there's a minor explosion in exiting uses for them. An exciting time!

Re: Teenager can walk again thanks to Dutch 3D printed spinal implant

#32

Post by AJCxZ0 »

hermitdev wrote: post #18
mancerayder wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's a common issue with slipped discs and terrible long term pain. If the day comes when we can print and install new vertebrae easily, I'm signing up. I imagine in this world of phone and PC usage, there'll be many customers in the years to come.

Me too. I suffer from degenerative discs, bone spurs and arthritis in all of my cervical and thoracic vertebrae. I'm in constant pain and if there was a realistic spinal replacement procedure, I would seriously consider it. I don't know what caused my problems, but arthritis and bonr spurs definitely run in my family and 3 decades of poor posture haven't helped and ive had too numerous bicycle falls and car crashes o…

I'm holding out for full-body prosthesis, but until then you might like to look into the likely next best option for your current body: https://startingstrength.com/article/back-pain-and-back-stre...

Re: Teenager can walk again thanks to Dutch 3D printed spinal implant

#33

Post by catoc »

Fact check:

1. This was not published in The Lancet (a prestigious medical journal) but in the Lancet Digital Health a similar sounding spin-off journal without an impact factor that uses a pay to publish model (pay around $5000 and you get published)

2. No bones or anatomic parts were printed. What was printed is this: https://els-jbs-prod-cdn.literatumonline.com/cms/attachment/...

Re: Teenager can walk again thanks to Dutch 3D printed spinal implant

#34

Post by D-Coder »

FerretFred wrote: post #29
xwdv wrote: post #28

Is there a limit to how many bones in the body could be replaced with titanium?

I know where you're going with this xwdv .. can you afford the metal though?

A Google search returned this:

  Forged Titanium Parts & Components
  
  The price of commercially pure titanium (CP) has risen sharply since 2003 to 2014, from $15.00 per lb to $30.00 per lb. It is an extremely light weight and high strength material.
 
  Titanium Forgings - Forged Titanium - Commercially Pure Alloys ...
https://www.steelforge.com/raw-materials/titanium-forgings/

At even $30 per pound, for a material that I'm pretty sure is stronger per weight than bone, even a dozen pounds is very do-able.

Re: Teenager can walk again thanks to Dutch 3D printed spinal implant

#35

Post by jwp23 »

pabloarteel wrote: post #23
jwp23 wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have a friend whose son was born with a partial hand. They were able to use 3D printing to make a prosthetic that was cheap enough they could make new ones as he grew. IIRC, they could do themes such as iron man for the prosthetic.

Do they have photos, video or info to share? Would be really interesting to see it working, sounds awesome.

I found out because they shared on Facebook. I would normally not share it, but apparently his experience was shared on the news. https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/news/stories/3d_griffin.html
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