3D Printing Your Health

We’ve all heard about 3D printing and the cool things we can now print pretty easily. But not many of us have thought about how we might see 3D printers in doctors’ offices and emergency rooms in the future.

I work in a lab at the Feinstein Institute where we use 3-D printers to make anything from synthetic bone that can be implanted into the body to a bionic hand that could allow a patient to be functional again. My goal is to use technology to help patients. To do this, I work with various Northwell Health doctors to find out what they need for their patients. The requests we’ve received have been varied and interesting…we created custom drill guides for dentists and we’re developing tracheal replacements for patients whose airways are damaged (a fatal situation). I’m looking forward to working with more doctors so that we can develop more ways to merge technology and medicine and use 3D printing to help patients. I envision a future when doctors will simply print tools and replacement parts on demand.

To see a video about this, click here: http://bit.ly/1V8YM08

This post was written by Todd A. Goldstein, lead researcher in 3D bioprinting at the Feinstein Institute for Medical Research.