Chennai :

Since he lost his left ear lobe in an accident last month, 14-year-old Jayanth has been wearing a cap pulled down over his ear. He will throw that cap away coming weekend when his new 3D-printed ear arrives from Mumbai.

“The ear will be made of polyjet plastic and coloured to match his other ear,” says Chennai-based maxillofacial surgeon Dr John Nesan who is handling Jayanth’s case.

After providing organ models for surgeons to practice, 3D printing service providers are now making exact replicas of diseased organs in the latest marriage of technology and healthcare. While ear lobes and teeth are easy to print parts, teams are working on printing liver cells which is a complex task.

“The cost and ethics involved in using such 3D bio-printed living human tissues for medical research is much better than animal and human trials,” says Chandru. “In the long run, these technologies will allow on-demand manufacturing of personalised human organs, and alleviate the acute shortage,” says Chandru.

In Bangalore, at Pandorum Technologies, Arun Chandru and his team are working on 3D printing live cells to be used in liver toxicity studies. “The cells are printed into tissue-like architectures, which are then grown in bio-reactors for further study,” he said.

“To print the cells we use what is called a bio ink, which is a mixture of cells and hydrogel,” says Chandru, who adds that the cells are printed into tissue-like architectures, which are then grown in bio-reactors for further study.

On June 27, interventional cardiologist Dr A B Gopalmurugan of SRM Institute of Medical Sciences, Hospital, Chennai, used a 3D printed rubber heart to help prep for a complicated stent insertion. In November 2015, city-based cardiac surgeon Dr K M Cherian used a 3D model before operating on a child with a complex congenital heart disease.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / News Home> City> Chennai / Kamini Mathai / TNN / July 10th, 2016