3D Printed Prostheses and Organs

Abstract

Additive manufacturing allows to transform a two dimensional image into a three dimensional object by printing layers of material successively. Because of this, it has a wide number of applications in the fashion, automobile and medical industries, just to cite a few. In the latter, 3D printed prostheses have been created to help those missing a limb, allowing them to get prosthetic arms and legs for a cheaper price than normal ones and that work just as fine, if not better. In addition to that, scientists in the field have focused on one of the most pressing problems humans face nowadays, partly because of an ageing population – organ shortage. There are an increasing number of elders whose organs fail and therefore, need transplants. Some problems of transplants are their high price, how hard it is to find a suitable donor and that there is always the danger of the receiving side’s immune system rejecting it, even if the operation is performed successfully. The ultimate goal would be to be able to create organs with a 3D printer, possibly using some sort of biological ink, which can create blood vessels once implanted on a patient. However, this raises a question – can this be used to increase humans’ life expectancy? And if so, is that ethical? To answer these questions a survey is performed in order to discover just how moral 3D printed prostheses and organs are and whether society is ready for them or not. Also, a prosthetic arm is designed and analysed using SolidWorks to give an insight into the process.