Researchers at Northwestern University have developed a 3D printable ink to produce a synthetic bone material that will be especially effective in the treatment of bone defects and injuries in children, according to a press release from Northwestern University.
“Adults have more options when it comes to implants,” said the lead researcher, Ramille N. Shah, in the release. “Pediatric patients do not. If you give them a permanent implant, you have to do more surgeries in the future as they grow. They might face years of difficulty.”
These other options include harvesting new bone elsewhere in the body, or, in some cases, using metallic implants, the release said. Both are painful and come with various complications, especially in children with growing bones.
Unlike traditional bone implantation surgeries, the synthetic material that these researchers have developed can be customized to the patient. With Shah's material, physicians would be able to scan the patient's body to create a custom bone that can later be trimmed or reshaped during the implantation procedure.
This is not Shah's first time developing 3D printed body parts. She also was a member of the Northwestern University research team that announced this past spring that they had successfully printed a 3D ovary and transplanted it into mice.
