A 3-D-printed rib cage made entirely from titanium has now been implanted into the chest of a 54-year-old cancer patient who lost his sternum and pieces of four ribs when a large tumor was removed.
The device was designed by engineers at Anatomics in Melbourne, Australia and created with a $1.3 million printer at a government-run lab.
According to NPR, the printer uses an electron beam to melt titanium powder. The printer then paints each layer of the device, one on top of another.
A Deep-dive Into Specialty Pharma
A specialty drug is a class of prescription medications used to treat complex, chronic or rare medical conditions. Although this classification was originally intended to define the treatment of rare, also termed “orphan” diseases, affecting fewer than 200,000 people in the US, more recently, specialty drugs have emerged as the cornerstone of treatment for chronic and complex diseases such as cancer, autoimmune conditions, diabetes, hepatitis C, and HIV/AIDS.
“As each layer is fused, you start to build up a product,” engineer Alex Kingsbury said in a video by Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation, who helped make the device. “It would be an incredibly complex piece to manufacture traditionally, in fact, you know, almost impossible.”
The cost of creating such a custom implant wasn’t announced, but this could be a good alternative instead of the combination of flat plates, bars and mesh usually used to build an artificial rib cage and sternum for patients.
