3D printed spine implant saves a patient with severe back pain

3D printing is now more common in our daily life, and even, it is involved in health care. These days news comes out that a medical device company and a neurosurgeon have successfully created a 3D printed vertebral cage for a patient with severe back pain cooperating with RMIT University in Melbourn. Amanda Gorvin is a patient who was suffering severe back pain resulting from an abnormal structure of the fifth lumbar vertebra and severe degeneration of the adjacent disc. She is one of the patients of the spine surgery specialist Dr Marc Coughlan, working at the North Gosford and Prince of Wales Hospitals. Coughlan considered spinal surgery as a good option, but the current implant would possibly only give her slight relief because of Gorvin's unusual shape of vertebrae. Coughlan then turned to Anatomics, Melbourne medical device specialist, to design and develop a customized titanium spinal implant using 3D printing technology. Anatomics worked with Professor Milan Brandt and his team at RMIT's Centre for Additive Manufacturing at the Advanced Manufacturing Precinct. They produced the implant layer by layer, which adds successive layers of material under computer control. The 3D printing process (or additive manufacturing) is not the same as the subtractive manufacturing techniques of casting, fabrication, stamping and machining. The implant can be made of any shape and complex internal architecture at a reasonable cost by using 3D printing. The surgery was done three months ago and now Gorvin can take part in normal activities without any significant pain. 3D printing's ability to create unique and complex titanium implants for specific conditions showed that it can be used to offer continuous support for patients with chronic pain. This revolutionary technology is proved to be helpful in more areas. Read more as you like:http://www.cusabio.com/Polyclonal-Antibody/MAGEA10-Antibody-HRP-conjugated-11098209.html