14 DAY TRIAL // When it comes to technological advancements pushed or encouraged by the military, projects usually revolve around explosions or facilitating soldiers' activities in the field. There is still the occasional leap into medicine though.
In a move that would be more expected from the medical science sector, the U.S. Army has begun to investigate the possible uses of 3D printing in facial reconstruction surgery.
Then again, it does make some sense that the military would want to improve the results of such interventions, given the sort of injuries that men and women suffer during missions.
Scrapes and burns aren't something that 3D printing can help with much, but fractures inflicted upon the face bones are another matter entirely.
Frag grenades, explosive grenades, even frontal gun shots can leave people permanently disfigured, and existing facial reconstruction techniques can only do so much. And since 42% of all injuries that occur to the Department of Defense service members are Craniomaxillofacial, something needs to be done.
The Armed Forces Institute of Regenerative Medicine, founded by the Department of Defense in 2008, believes that, in the near future, 3D printing could be used to make replacement ears and maxillofacial tissues of all sorts (face bones, muscle and skin).
Moreover, the technology can be adapted for other body parts, too. Finger bones should be straightforward enough, though the kidneys scaffolds created by researchers at Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine might be more problematic.
There are three main areas of facial reconstruction surgery that the U.S. Army is focusing on: 3D printing models that can quicken surgeries, 3D-printed facial skin regeneration, and 3D-printed hard tissue repair and regeneration.
The first category consists of what's already being done in certain hospitals: using 3D printing models to plan surgeries, visualize defects, etc.
The second category involves 3D-printed custom facemasks of a patient's face out of polycaprolactone (PCL). Skin can be generated on top of that mask, thus producing a near perfect fit.
Finally, in terms of 3D-printed hard tissue repair and regeneration, the Army is thinking of 3D printing various implants. Tests on animals showed them correctly adhering to the present bone structure, and the bone even regenerated over the synthetic additions.
A shortened hospital stay and lack of dependence on donor sites (unlike in bone autographing) are the major advantages of this method, while affordability is also an asset, though this won't become obvious until hospitals start to actually employ 3D printing-based facial reconstruction freely.