
Getting Closer to Mass Production of Bones, Organs, and Implants - jgrahamc
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-04-27/we-re-getting-closer-to-mass-production-of-bones-organs-and-implants
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Boothroid
Airway is mentioned, but this is one of the hardest parts to manufacture. Very
little clinical success in this area so far:
[http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-37311038](http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-37311038)

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Roritharr
That is depressing. I remember seeing an episode of Nova Science Now about it
and being so amazed at it that I showed that segment to everyone i knew to get
them talking about it...

Really sad to hear that this is also a "can't have nice things" situation.

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Tharkun
An acquaintance of mine had a part of her skull replaced by a 3D printed part,
made by Materialise. While it sounds spectacular, she was out of the hospital
in days, none the worse for wear.

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jessriedel
Could you say more about it? For typical holes left by neurosurgical
procedures the 3D printing part may be useful for comfort or cosmetics, but I
think it is unlikely to be critically important. Surgeons have been using
simple metal plates to patch holes in the skull for many decades, and they
work pretty well.

~~~
Tharkun
Part of her skull was damaged when she was a child. At the time it was
replaced by some kind of plastic. But from what I gather it slowly started to
deteriorate, until it got infected and pressure built up and it had to be
removed/replaced.

From what I can gather it's a piece a little over 10cm in diameter and resides
above her ear.

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blazespin
Metal Plates make MRIs a pain.

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jessriedel
No, essentially all modern metal implants are non magnetic, e.g., titanium.
They go through MRIs all the time.

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mattkrause
No, it's still a pain.

Titanium is MR-compatible: the magnet won't rip the plate out of your head,
which is good. However, it can cause huge artifacts that obscure things around
the titanium implant (and, sometimes, depending on the scan parameters and
implant location, elsewhere too).

This is particularly annoying because the implants are often right near the
areas you really want to image....

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dghughes
I've read about coral being used as temporary structure for bone replacment
but eventually the patient's own bone takes over replacing it.

You'd think a liver would be the easiest organ to grow since in adults a liver
can regrow from a healthy piece. That's why you sometimes read about people
donating part of their liver.

I think there will always be one big problem and that's the health of the
patient. People who need a new organ are so sick they probably won't survive
the operation to get a new organ. Anesthetic is like a controlled drug
overdose but add age and poor health I can't imagine being an anesthesiologist
that's one tough job!

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sslalready
It doesn't regrow the (larger) blood vessels and doesn't maintain the original
structure. A liver is essentially two halves with two separate, large blood
vessels.

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systems
why aren't teeth implants and crowns getting cheaper because of 3D Printers

crowns and teeth implants should be a lot easier than other organs or bones

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yourapostasy
I spoke about this with my dentist, and according to him the research and
money is going to ever-greater precision and bio-compatibility. Scanning and
imaging the tooth to replace is still part-art and not fully-automated yet.
The scanning processes out on the market has not perfected discriminating the
tooth from the surrounding tissue, so there is some manual work the dentist
performs to shape the replica; there are weird artifacts here and there they
shave away and/or re-shape. Bio-compatibility sounds like it is is very close:
the latest materials outlast human lifespans, and is tougher than enamel, with
very small populations that adversely react to the materials.

~~~
dbcurtis
The part-art comment is certainly true. I have a 3D milled ceramic crown that
was done years ago during the early days of the technology. It is absolutely
great in every way, and has been since day 1. My wife went to the same dentist
a few months later, another 3D milled ceramic crown. Same guy, same machine.
The crown had an awful fit, was never right, and she had it replaced with a
different technology within 6 months. Getting to three-9's reliability is hard
for all of us.

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devrandomguy
"Who: Engineering Ph.D. dropout ..."

In other words, an ordinary professional engineer, who considered extending
his formal education? Bit of a gaffe, there.

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crusso
"getting closer"... that's not much to go on.

If you read the article skeptically, there isn't any news here - nothing that
hasn't been reported prior to the last 2 or 3 years.

The big news will be when we can fabricate complex organs, significant patches
of skin with features like hair follicles or fingerprints, etc. Notice that
even the liver reference was just some liver tissue that was implanted in a
mouse - not an actual liver or a human trial.

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agumonkey
archives:

[http://archive.is/EC8ph](http://archive.is/EC8ph)
[https://app.printfriendly.com/print?source=homepage&url_s=uG...](https://app.printfriendly.com/print?source=homepage&url_s=uGGCF_~_PdN_~_PcS_~_PcSJJJmoyBBzorEtmpBz_~_PcSArJF_~_PcSnEGvpyrF_~_PcScabh-
ae-ch_~_PcSJr-Er-trGGvAt-pyBFrE-GB-znFF-CEBqHpGvBA-Bs-oBArF-BEtnAF-nAq-
vzCynAGF)

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smaili
Has there been a term coined yet for people with these parts? I don't believe
it would be classified as a cyborg since these are not machine-type parts.
Although the parts are ironically produced by machines.

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ceejayoz
Sure: transplant recipient.

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Para2016
Booo! :)

What about Synborg or Synthorg? Maybe Pseudosynth.

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epanastasi
How about we call them human beings instead of trying to create a label and
separate them from the rest of society.

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lallysingh
I wonder if they'll be able to produce some of these parts in-place, inside
the body, as part of the surgery. Otherwise, some parts may be too hard to
implant.

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afinlayson
I'm very excited for this technology. But not as much as hockey players, who
would love to be able to have their teeth replaced.

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sbahr001
Hello 6 million dollar man.

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ricardobeat
> Ten-year old Organovo [...] has received more than $100 million in funding

I couldn't help but think of Juicero's $120m to design a flat mechanical
press.

(yes, supply chain etc, but still...)

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milquetoastaf
Uh except Organovo is trying to solve a much harder problem and has been
around for a while AND has proven success? What point are you trying to make
besides superficial snark because some funding numbers quoted in the article
are similar?

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yequalsx
I think ricardobeat is pointing out that it says something about the current
VC climate that something as dumb as Juiecero got $20 million more funding
than something as potentially important as Organivo.

