3d printers can now create artificial bones,cartilage and even muscles. these artificial bones have been used in themedical field and now have a global market size of more than 13 billion u.s. dollars. kim mok-yeon reports. this patient underwent an operation to cutout a part of his skull after brain hemorrhage
medical uses for 3d printing, surgery. during the surgery some parts of his skullwere injured. to fix the problem doctors conducted a secondoperation to insert part of a 3d printed artificial skull.
the 3d printer was able to create the exactbroken part of the skull with a margin of error of less than 0.5 millimeters. "it's a meaningful development because itdoes not contain any element that is harmful to the human body while it's still strong." this 3d printed artificial skull has beencreated to replace broken parts of the skull. the artificial bone will slowly dissolve intothe human body and facilitate tissue growth so that the tissues can replace the functionof the broken bone. currently, researchers are studying a wayto inject stem cells into the artificial bones so that they can regenerate and act like areal bone.
"we started with bones because they regeneratefaster than other parts.
we are trying to develop a product that includesstem cells that can help the bones regenerate." with the fast development of the 3d printingmarket, fiercer competition is expected among technology companies. kim mok-yeon, arirang news.
