How 3D Printing Can Save Your Life
Scientists from the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia, developed a medical tool to include a water jet, scalpel, and camera; its most impressive feature is that it can undergo 3D bioprinting.
Our modern life has embedded so much technology that now they are capable of doing things that people only dreamed about. It seems that technology has surpassed itself once again. A new surgical device that can 3D bioprinting living cells inside a human body has been released.
Scientists from the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia, developed a medical tool to include a water jet, scalpel, and camera; its most impressive feature is that it can undergo 3D bioprinting. This process is where synthetic parts are created to form human tissue-like structures.
Bioprinting is primarily used in the research industry for tissue engineering and drug development. Tissue engineering usually uses huge machines in order to produce these human tissue-like structures outside the body.
The Australian scientists ensured that their new device worked by testing it with an artificial colon. They were able to move through the “human body” before successfully 3D bioprinting synthetic human-like tissue.
Their laborious research has led them to create a minute 3D bioprinter that can be inserted anywhere within the human body, just like an endoscope camera used for decades by surgeons. It can undergo 3D bioprinting to construct whatever the desired organ needs. It contains a head that can move in any direction on a long robotic arm. This whole operation can be done externally by scientists, doctors, and surgeons alike.
While this prototype shows excellent promise, it is not ready to be used by medical teams just yet. But within the next decade, the group of scientists that have developed this medical device is sure that doctors and surgeons will be happy to have this instrument within their operating theatres.
Along with trialing this instrument within a colon, they have also completed tests on the surface of a pig’s kidney, where a number of different structures underwent 3D bioprinting successfully. By using this instrument instead of traditional methods, patients would have to forgo getting open-field surgery that is potentially life-threatening. For this reason alone, the new surgical invention could elevate the industry and patient care as a whole.
Instead of a massive surgery, a minimally invasive procedure could be completed with this instrument which would construct the biomaterials that the patient needs as the source of the problem rather than externally, such as stomach wall diseases. It would reduce the risk of infection and repeat medical and hospital stays.
The next stage of testing for the scientists and their new instrument is to start to create biomaterials within live animals. This stage will ensure that the device works correctly and can show how doctors would use it practically in a day-to-day setting.
Also, the team of scientists are planning to add some extra features, such as scanning and a camera, to their invention. These features would act as a 3D tomography of the inside of the patient’s body, giving the medical professional a more comprehensive view of the area of interest.
This new invention could change the way doctors and surgeons treat patients. It is an exciting time in the medical field.
