What is 3-D Printing and How Can it Transform Healthcare?

​Ways in which three-dimensional (3-D) printing is transforming healthcare were the focus of a September 12, 2017, article in the Wall Street Journal. Three-D printers can use data from magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), computed tomography (CT) scans, ultrasounds, and other pictures to create three-dimensional objects, layer-by-layer, using a range of materials including plastic, metal, and human tissue. The technology to print 3-D items has existed since the 1980s, the article said, but recent advances have made the process faster and more cost-efficient. For example, five years ago 3-D printers could only print in one or two materials and colors; today “they can print six materials simultaneously and create more than 360,000 combinations of textures and colors," the article said, which allows them to “mimic materials ranging from soft tissue to bone." At the Mayo Clinic, the article said, about 500 3-D objects were printed in 2016, including the model of an 11-year old girl's femur that allowed doctors to plot a method for removing a rare tumor without amputating her leg.