14 DAY TRIAL // It has finally happened – a team of surgeons has replaced human vertebrae with synthetic ones made through additive manufacturing. That is what Peking University Third Hospital’s Orthopedics Department has just announced.
Bones are one of the easiest things to recreate by means of 3D printing technology, since they're solid masses that aren't expected to grow or shrink over time, assuming the recipient has reached adulthood.
Thus, while people are still trying to figure out how to 3D print actual organs, bones are already fair game.
We've already seen 3D printed joint replacements, complete skull transplants where the natural skull was replaced by a 3D bioprinted one, and other such things. It makes the prosthetic field seem almost pedestrian in comparison.
The spine is one spot that 3D printing has mostly stayed away from, but that has finally changed. The Orthopedics Department from the Peking University Third Hospital was successful in implanting the first 3D printed vertebrae in patients.
This isn't just a knee-jerk announcement either. The implants were actually made last year, and the institute monitored the recipients in case their bodies rejected them. It did not happen, fortunately, which means that the procedure will soon spread to other regions around the world.
The potential health benefits can eclipse most things achieved by hip replacements, even though the principle is the same.
How were the implants made? Well, a selective laser sintering printer was fed titanium powder and coughed out complex shapes from its build chamber some hours or days later.
The new “bones” were specifically designed with pores, in order to allow bone to grow through it, and muscles/tendons to do the same, attach to it over time.
3D printed vertebrae, like all other bones, can change the lives of many. One patient that received an implant, age 32, has a spinal condition that made it almost impossible for him to walk. He also felt numb in his extremities. Now, though, he is doing a lot better and mobile. Not perfect, but still a lot better.
There was a 12-year-old boy who got a vertebral tumor after injuring his neck during a soccer match. He recovered most of his range of motion after an artificial vertebral body was placed between his first and third vertebra.
Another case was that of a woman affected by cervical spondylosis, a degenerative condition of the top-most section of the spine. The symptoms can be any of the following: tingling, numbness, and weakness in the arms, hands, legs, or feet, lack of coordination and difficulty walking, and loss of bladder or bowel control.
It is unclear which of them were affecting the woman, but the symptoms all disappeared a few days after the implant was done.
All in all, 3D printed spinal implants are a great achievement. Now if only we could figure out how to heal lesions in the spinal marrow, we'd be set.
