When The Six Million Dollar Man hit the world’s TV screens in 1973, few could have foretold how swiftly his sci-fi-inspired bionic implants might become reality. Yet 40-odd years later, the idea of creating perfect body parts through 3D printing (also known as additive manufacturing) and rebuilding humans from the inside exceeds all possible imagining. The benefits for doctors and hospitals are huge, but there are surprising low-tech advantages in other areas of healthcare, too.
At its most cutting edge in the laboratory, scientists are exploring bioprinting: the creation via a 3D process of organs which will become living tissue suitable for transplant. Bioprinted tissue has already been developed for research and the first transplantable examples could be ready for use in just a few years’ time. Sichuan Revotek, a biotechnology company based in Chengdu, China, implanted a printed section of artery into a monkey last year.
But additive manufacturing is most commonly associated with prosthetics: in dentistry, where 3D printing creates customised crowns, bridges and braces; or orthopaedics, where surgeons are now accustomed to using 3D printed joints in knee replacements.
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