• Contact Us

How 3D Printing Is Revolutionising Healthcare - 3 Things we've Learnt from Health 2.0

on Friday, 13 January 2017.

Take a step into the future. I did, when I attended a fantastic event recently - Health 2.0's event in London that showcased something very futuristic, that is here right now.

Can organs and body parts be 3D printed? Yes, and this is a growing practice in many areas of healthcare, as was explained by Giovanna Grados, Scott Summit, Nick Byrne and Pankaj Chandak.

The Event

The Health 2.0 London meetup group hosted an evening on the use of 3D printing in healthcare at the London College of Fashion on 19 October. The evening comprised of three very interesting lectures from Giovanna Grados, Scott Summit, Nick Byrne and Pankaj Chandak, who each explained the application of the technology in their respective practices of medicine.

Giovanna is a Maxillofacial Technologist at the King's College Hospital. In her lecture, Giovanna explained that the Hospital's Cranio-Maxillofacial Prosthetics team uses 3D printing technology to produce specialist treatments for patients with facial disfigurements. One of the specialist treatments is facial prosthetic reconstruction following craniofacial surgery related to congenital birth defects, cancer or trauma, in which Giovanna's team scans the face to produce a 3D image of the area not affected by the surgery. The visual is then mirror-imaged, to produce a to-scale, 3D visual of the region to be reconstructed, which is then 3D-printed - producing an implant, splint or prosthetic that is inserted into the damaged region during follow-up reconstruction surgery.

Scott Summit, a TED speaker and robotics designer, then explained his work using 3D printing in post-operative rehabilitation. Following a tear of a ligament in his wrist in 2014, his colleagues 3D-scanned his injured arm, from which they were able to design a bespoke brace - designed to avoid nerves and bony prominences on Scott's arm whilst ensuring maximum bloodflow, movement and stability during his recovery. The result of the tailor-made, minimalist splint was that the skin could be massaged to minimise scar tissue build-up, medication could be applied to reduce scarring and Scott could undergo acupuncture weekly to minimise discomfort; all of which contributed towards his quick recovery and would not have been possible if he were to have worn the traditional fibreglass cast.

Finally, Nick Byrne, a medical physicist, and Pankaj Chandak, a transplant surgeon, explained that the teams at Guy's and St Thomas's 3D-print to-scale replica models of an organ to be transplanted, and the anatomy of the patient into whom the organ will be placed, using 3D images of the patients procured by CT scan. The production of 3D models to recreate the patients' anatomy is particularly useful in heart and kidney transplant surgery in children where the 'fit' of the organ into the body is crucial to the success of treatment. In using 3D models, Nick and Pankaj explained that the transplant team can visualise the shape of the organs and manoeuvre the models prior to surgery to assess in advance of the operation whether there are any particular characteristics of the patients (for example other organs, or his or her spine) on which the surgeons may need focus during the transplant surgery, or operate prior to it. This ensures that the transplant surgery is not hindered by unforeseen peculiarities of the patients' anatomy, and runs as smoothly as possible.

In Practice

Whilst we are some way off widespread printing of organs for use in transplantation, 3D printing is producing increasingly bespoke approaches to treatment, in turn revolutionising healthcare and will continue to do so for some time to come. The future is exciting and I enjoyed learning more about it at this Health 2.0 event.


If you would like to discuss any of these issues, please contact Lydia Kellett on 020 7665 0941.

Leave a comment

You are commenting as guest.