Between my own project and the news world this has been a very busy week for this blog. Thank you for reading.
Of course everyone is excited about the baby that Doctors made a 3D printed stint for and saved his life. It’s awesome, it’s 3D printing, and it’s a baby, all the making of a good story.
But lest we forget this is the second heart (at least) that has been saved by 3D printing. Tal Golesworthy, a boiler engineer, looked at his own heart, failing due to Marfan’s syndrome, like a bulging pipe and decided all it needed was a wrap.
Iterative design in medicine. Custom fixes for each heart. A faster, easier surgery performed while the heart is beating. No drug treatment afterwards. And 3D printing.
I have a personal attachment because when I was younger there was a time I was being tested for Marfan’s. Back then I was having a very grim picture painted for me and thank goodness they were able to rule it out. However if I had been diagnosed it’s comforting to know that the coming together of 3D printing medicine, and a very extraordinary man who knew the solution to a very ordinary bulging pipe problem could have saved my life, today.
