3-D Printer Creates a Complete Thumb Bone

Mar-09-09 Scientists have fabricated exact replicas of human thumb bones using a 3-D printer that layers natural materials rather than ink.

The conventional way to replace a tumb bone has been to take bone from somewhere else on the patient's body, such as from a toe, for example. A new fabrication breakthrough allows doctors to replace damaged or diseased bones with identical copies built from the patient's own cells.

First, a 3-D, mirror image is made of the patient's remaining thumb bone. Then the image is fed into a 3-D inkjet printer, which deposits and builds up thin layers of the substitute material until a replica of the bone is complete. For the initial fabrication, the researchers loaded their printer with tricalcium phosphate and a type of polylactic acid, which are natural structural materials found in the human body.

The resulting bone contains thousands of tiny pores, forming a scaffold into which bone cells can settle and grow. It is expected that the biodegradable scaffold will eventually be replaced by the body's own bone cells.

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[NEWSCIENTIST.COM]

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