One of the most vital points of 3D printing is in Medicine
Medical 3D printing can drastically reduce time for many life-saving operations.
Infinitely complex parts down to arteries can be replicated
Apex Research Laboratories has developed medical prosthesis such as mechanical hearts, through FDM printing, using PLA filament.
With the rapid expansion of the 3D printing technologies around the world and particularly in the MENA region, the availability of both household and specialized products is set to grow drastically. The UAE, with its 3D printing hubs based in Dubai and Abu Dhabi is geared up to become a major node in the development of 3D printing technologies, and as has become apparent over the last decade the expansion of the industry commercially also means an expansion of the technological possibilities of this technology. At Apex Research Laboratories we envision many ways in which such technologies can help you in your everyday life, but also help you bridge critical requirements.
Medical 3D printing technologies are a major fulcrum of the 2016 Dubai 3D printing strategy inaugurated by the vice-president, prime-minister and ruler of Dubai Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al Makhtoum. The expansion into the medical industry as such has been one of the most vital and specialized points of the expansion of the 3D printing industry, which has pushed both medical technology as well as the 3D printing technology itself past unexpected and futuristic frontiers.
Possibilities of Medical 3D printing
The problem of organ donors, given that these situations often require immediate life-saving action, is obviously severe. The scarcity of available and appropriate organ donors moreover is one that is nearly impossible to solve without developing synthetic means to produce these organs. With prosthesis too like limb-prosthesis 3D printing produces far more mobile, pliable, durable and accurate forms which are fitted precisely which can even be developed for the veterinary sciences.
3D printing has allowed huge advances in surgery reducing the time it takes to conduct surgery drastically particularly through the creation of models in complex surgeries which allow surgeons to make more precise incisions thus reduces both time and risk. In the dental sciences too 3D printing allows the printing of several replicas for the same model at a low cost and at the same time, in a much shorter period, allowing a more suitable fit for items such as crowns.
The varieties of materials that are used implies that different textures can be crafted into the same product. 3D printing also allows for the printing of blood vessels and tubes involved with movement of waste out of the body, which also shows the microscopic detail to which these technologies have advanced. Apex Research Laboratories has developed medical prosthesis such as mechanical hearts, through FDM printing, using PLA filament (for more on FDM printing see our FDM printing, and FDM printing Dubai and Abu Dhabi pages.) Where conventional 3D printing technologies use a variety of materials to accomplish the printing medical 3D technologies uses biomaterial known as bio-ink to accomplish this task. Bioinks are made up of living matter of molecules called hydrogels mixed with living cells and different types of chemicals.
Impact of Medical 3D printing
Medical 3D printing has drastically affected markets and systems for donation particularly creating possibilities where illegal markets for medical requirements such as organs are finally shut and by-passed, as well as the complications of international laws relating to these products. Another major impact of 3D printing is bringing down the cost of various surgical and medical procedures drastically enabling procedures which were otherwise inaccessible to the larger population into the fore and part of the mass manufacturing process, while simultaneously upsetting clogged and bureaucratic industrial procedures and introducing a competitive economy that forces innovation in other sectors as well.