Scientists enter new dimension with 4D-printed lifesaving device
Scientists add extra dimension to 3D printing - time - creating personalised device to save lives of infants with severe airway disease that changes shape as they grow
Just when you thought 3D printing – with its ability to produce almost anything from buildings to cars to food – was the coolest thing ever, scientists have taken it another leap forward. Four-dimensional printing is the new black, the added facet being time.
Specifically, 4D printing creates 3D objects that can change shape over time. In the US, researchers from the University of Michigan have managed to print and implant 4D airway splints in three infants with a rare life-threatening airway disease.
The 4D biomaterial was engineered to expand with airway growth over a period of time, before dissolving in the body. In their study published on Wednesday in the journal Science Translational Medicine, the researchers report that the approach has been successful in all three infants with airways remaining open for up to nearly three years after implantation.
“Today, we see a way to cure a disease that has been killing children for generations,” says Dr Glenn Green, Associate Professor of Pediatric Otolaryngology at the University of Michigan.
The findings represent not only a new surgical option for patients suffering from obstructive airway diseases, but also show the promise for 4D-printed materials in medicine.
