3D Printing in 2025
Even though to bring 3D printing to its full potential depends on improvements in products such as design software, 3D scanners, and supporting software applications and tools, by 2015 3D printing is going to positively impact not only people’s live but also the industry itself.
The strongest three groupings of health care in 3D printing are going to be the following:
The strongest three groupings of health care in 3D printing are going to be the following:
- Prosthetics (also know as scaffolding)
Joint replacements can be customized with 3D printing. In that way patients do not have to lose extra inches of bone, instead the surgeon can cut the optimal point, leading into a faster recovery and better functionality. - Medical Devices
Printing may be best for when doctors need to create a new device on demand for rare, unpredictable conditions. In May 2013, doctors at University of Michigan Health System printed a customized splint for a newborn with a collapsing trachea, which saved the boy’s life. - Human tissues
The US Army will soon begin clinical trials for 3D-printed skin. Researchers say the living tissue could be customized for each patient, and be used to restore skin with elasticity, sweat glands, and even hair follicles. The main application would be for helping burn victims (Doyle, 2013).
One category of 3D printing—bioprinting of living organs—has long-term potential to save or extend many lives.
The ability to print body parts from the patient’s own cells could improve transplant success rates and prevent deaths that occur due to patients having to wait for donor organs (Manyika, Chui, Bughin, Dobbs, Bisson, Marrs , 2013). On the manufacturing side, “3D printing could become an increasingly common approach for highly complex, low-volume, highly customizable parts. |
If used in this way, we estimate that 3D printing could generate $100 billion to $200 billion in economic impact per year by 2025 from direct manufacturing of parts. The market for complex, low-volume, highly customizable parts, such as medical implants and engine components, could be $770 billion annually by 2025, and it is possible that some 30 to 50 percent of these products could be 3D-printed. These products could cost 40 to 55 percent less due to the elimination of tooling costs, reduction in wasted material, and reduced handling costs” (Manyika, Chui, Bughin, Dobbs, Bisson, Marrs , 2013).
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There is nothing more customized than one’s body. That is why 3D printing is a countless fit for healthcare industry and people, due to its ability to facility custom designs. As 3D printing technologies continue to improve in quality, material and price, we will see more and more uses for 3D printing in healthcare in order to save time during surgical procedures, reduce cost in medical devices and to improve/save people’s lives.
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