Over the course of the last year, we have seen a lot of new and exciting news coming out from the Indian 3D printing industry. Through this article, we highlight some of the popular news from the Indian Healthcare 3D printing industry in the passing year 2018.
3D Printing Restored Lost Smile and Faith of a Brave, Wounded BSF Jawan
Doctors used 3D printing technology and conducted a cranial implant to restore damaged parts of the skull/Image Credit: The New Indian Express
In 2017, Border Security Force (BSF) Jawan, Chopse Sangtam was hit by a bullet fired by Maoist. The bullet went through Sangtam’s skull, destroyed his right eye and a part of his cranial bone, disfiguring his face. A year later in 2018, and post a custom cranial implant conducted using 3D printing; Sangtam is now all smiles as 3D printing technology allowed Sangtam restore his normal facial contours and most importantly the fighting spirit that he had lost a result of facial disfigurement.
The doctors turned to 3D printing technology and with the help of 3D printing, the doctors conducted a custom cranial implant to restore the affected part in Sangtam’s skull. Dr. Chandrakar added the final touches to the reconstruction procedure by placing custom eye prosthesis later. The procedure, which otherwise costs around 40,000 INR, was conducted free of cost, Chandrakar said.
Chennai Scientists Grew 3D Printed Implantable Ears
Above: Chennai Scientists Grow 3D Printed Implantable Ears/Image Credit: Times of IndiaResearch by a group of Indian scientists, from SIMS Hospital and SRM University, Chennai, resulted in successfully growing a 3D printed implantable ear. These scientists stated that they used this technique to 3D print cartilage which continues to survive and grow normally in rabbits.
The Indian scientists dedicated more than two years to this research and achieved positive results. This granted them permission to continue their experiments.
According to Dr. K Sridhar, SIMS Hospital Medical Director & a senior plastic surgeon, “We still have a long way to go before we give this to a child with a birth defect, but we now have a definite path. We will be doing a large scale animal study to reconfirm our results before we start any human trial.”
3D Printed ‘Fittle Puzzle’ Assists Visually Impaired People in India to Learn Braille Efficiently
Above: Visually impaired student using the Fittle puzzle/Image Credit: FittleEye care specialists from India’s leading eye institute L. V. Prasad Eye Institute (LVPEI), Indian designer Tania Jain, German educational toy manufacturer Ravensburger and an independent global communication group called Serviceplan all of whom collaborated to create a unique open-source 3D printed puzzle called as ‘Fittle’. This 3D printed Fittle puzzle will help visually impaired people to quickly and efficiently learn Braille, a language for the visually impaired.
Specialists from L. V. Prasad Eye Institute (LVPEI) sought to ease this process and collaborated with multiple companies and agencies to create a unique way to help visually impaired people learn the language quickly.
According to statistics, there are 22 million visually impaired people in India itself. Most of them end up unemployed and have to resort to a low socio-economic status in the society because of lack of education.
The fittle project aims to raise funds and provide 3D printers to communities in schools for the blind and visually impaired in India and many other developing countries who cannot afford expensive learning devices.
AIIMS Doctors Used 3D Printed Implant to Replace Hip Joint in first-of-its-kind Surgery in India
A multi-disciplinary team of doctors, which included orthopaedic and vascular surgeons and critical care specialists at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) – Delhi successfully performed a hip joint replacement surgery using a 3D printed medical implant.
The surgery which took eight long hours was performed on April 25, 2018, on 40-year-old Amit Bahnot wherein the doctors replaced a right hip joint with a near-perfect 3D printed implant.
Speaking to the Hindustan Times, Dr. Rajesh Malhotra, Professor, and Head of Orthopaedic Department said, “It was a complicated surgery because his pelvic bone was badly damaged.”
“This is the first time anyone in India has used this technology to create a near-perfect implant for a patient,” added Dr. Malhotra.
Two Kids Received Artificial Limbs Manufactured at “HASTHA” a New 3D Printing Facility in India
Above: VC Dr. H. Vinod Bhat, handing over the 3D printed Prosthetic limb to one of the children at Kasturba Hospital/Image credit: TOI
Understanding revolutionary capabilities of the 3D printing technology, a 3D printing facility for artificial limb manufacturing ‘Hastha,’ was inaugurated at Kasturba Hospital, on 20th July. The two children were called at the same 3D printing facility and there they received their customised 3D printed artificial limbs on the 24th of July, 2018.
According to Dr. Avinash Shetty Medical Superintendent at Kasturba Hospital, “3D printable prosthetics are the new revolution in manufacturing artificial limbs, especially for children in order to develop a prosthesis that is innovative, customizable and cheap. It can be replaced often without incurring much cost. The 3D printing (manufacturing) prosthesis can be task specific and a child can have many such prostheses for each task like activities of daily living, for playing or for school work.”
As per the hospital, the prosthetics made at the 3D printing facility can be personalised to any degree of amputation and can be task specific which allows kids to use different prosthetics for activities like playing, school work, or other daily tasks.
Doctors at Jaipur’s SMS Hospital will Soon Use 3D Printing to Restore Faces of Patients with Oral Cancer
Above: The Sawai Man Singh (SMS) Hospital in Jaipur/Image Credit: Pink City Post
After successfully using 3D printing technology to perform neuro and cardiovascular surgeries with precision, doctors at the Jaipur’s Sawai Man Singh Hospital (SMS) will soon be using 3D printing technology to restore faces of patients who have undergone surgery for oral cancer. The technology will help patients undergoing the surgery to get the same face they had earlier.
A report from The Times of India revealed that doctors from the SMS hospital are soon to send a proposal to SMS medical college to open the facility for patients diagnosed with oral cancer.
3D Printing helped Manipal Hospital Doctors to reconstruct Yemen War Victim’s Lower Jaw
Hussain, a seventeen-year-old war victim from Yemen was operated by doctors from the Manipal hospital in Malleshwaram. Doctors used the 3D printing technology to pre-plan and reconstruct the broken lower jaw (mandible). Hussain had lost his lower jaw in a bomb blast three years ago in his home country.
Hussain could not close his mouth and had difficulty in swallowing due to lack of skeletal support. He had to suffer this ordeal for 3 years during which he travelled to various countries trying to find some relief but even after multiple reconstructive surgeries, his problem was far from solved.
After 9 surgeries across the globe, he finally arrived at Manipal hospital. The doctors naturally reconstructed his mandible by using his stem cells. Hussain had to wait for three months for his mandible to grow. By using Hussain’s stem cells from his hip bone (ilium) and bone graft impregnated into the 3D printed model, a customised prefabricated mandible was fixed to his residual bone.
think3D Inaugurated India’s Largest 3D Printing Facility in Vizag
Above: Various Manufacturing Units at AMTZ/Image Credit: think3DIn July 2017, think3D entered into an agreement with AP MedTech Zone; a medical device manufacturing park located in Vizag to set up India’s largest integrated 3D Printing facility. After 18 months of brisk construction, the facility was ready and was inaugurated by Shri. Nara Chandra Babu Naidu, Honorable Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, on 13th December 2018.
AP MedTech Zone is a novel initiative by the provincial government of Andhra Pradesh, India to make Andhra Pradesh an internationally recognized manufacturing hub for medical devices, help in national agenda of import substitution and reduce healthcare costs in India. Currently, around 70% of medical devices used in hospitals in India are imported leading to a loss in employment, foreign exchange and increased costs for healthcare in India. To solve these issues and make healthcare in India affordable, the government had devised this manufacturing park under the MAKE IN INDIA initiative.
Researchers from IIT Delhi and IIT Kanpur 3D Bioprinted Load Bearing Bones
Researchers from Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi and IIT Kanpur have used a combination of tissue engineering and 3D bioprinting to mimic the development biology pathway through which load-bearing, long bones are formed.
In a study, researchers from both the institutes demonstrated detailed gene expression and sequential signalling pathways that get upregulated when embryonic-stage cartilage transform into bone-like cells.
About Manufactur3D Magazine: Manufactur3D is an online magazine on 3D printing which publishes the latest 3D printing news, insights and analysis from all around the world. Check out our Indian Scenario page for more 3D printing news from India.
