may allow for fast, low-cost, more-flexible medical implants for million
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University of Florida (UF) researchers have developed a method for 3D printing soft-silicone medical implants that are stronger, quicker, less expensive, more flexible, and more comfortable than the implants currently available. That should be good news for the millions of people every year who need medical devices implanted.
Model 3D-printed silicone trachea implant (credit: University of Florida)
Currently, such devices — such as ports for draining bodily fluids (cerebral spinal fluid in hydrocephalus, for example), implantable bands, balloons, soft catheters, slings and meshes — are mass produced and made through molding processes. To create customized parts for individual patients with molding would be very expensive and could take days or weeks for each job.
The 3D printing method cuts that time to hours, potentially saving lives.
The ability to easily replace silicone implants at low cost is especially important for children, where “implants may need to be replaced frequently as they grow up,” Thomas E. Angelini, an associate professor of mechanical engineering of the UF Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, explained to KurzweilAI. Angelini is senior author of a paper published May 10, 2017 in the open-access journal Science Advances.
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