Abstract
Three dimensional printing or additive manufacturing is a group of technologies that allow creation of three dimensional objects by adding layers of material using a “printer” under computer control. These technologies have long been used to create prototypes of devices for manufacturing, but now many proposed applications are emerging to use the technology to create medical devices, and eventually artificial organs, for patient care. This chapter reviews some proposed and actual biomedical applications of 3-D printing. Three-dimensional printing of medical devices is still largely in what one firm (Gartner) terms the “hype” stage of innovation, which is characterized by high expectations but as yet unproven success. However a few 3-D printed medical devices have achieved considerable success even at this early stage of evolution of the technology. This chapter calls for an ethical technology assessment of 3-D printing. While the products themselves vary greatly, the technology in general provides unprecedented flexibility of design and creation of medical devices, but there is an essential tension between this flexibility and the rigid controls that society has evolved to ensure the safety and effectiveness of medical devices and treatments. Specific issues include the need to reconcile flexibility of design and production with safety of products, the flexible boundaries between research and medical practice, the likely development of new vested interests related to the technology, and issues related to printing of body parts for nonmedical uses.
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Notes
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3-D Systems Enables Derby the Dog to Run with 3-D Printed Custom Prosthetics. Available on the Internet at http://www.3-Dsystems.com/press-releases/3-D-systems-enables-derby-dog-run-3-D-printed-custom-prosthetics (accessed 12/18/14).
- 2.
A Atala, TED talk “Growing New Organs”, October 2009. Available on the Internet at http://www.ted.com/talks/anthony_atala_growing_organs_engineering_tissue/transcript?language=en
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Apsley, Linda Knowlton, et al. “Providing services related to item delivery via 3-D manufacturing on demand.” U.S. Patent Application 14/076,127.
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(Les Karpas, Metamason, FDA workshop 2nd day p. 19)
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http://enablingthefuture.org Accessed 30 June 2015.
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available on the Internet at http://www.gartner.com/technology/research/methodologies/hype-cycle.jsp#
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Zdravković, Milan, and Miroslav Trajanović. “On the extended clinical workflows for personalized healthcare.” Enterprise Interoperability. Springer Berlin Heidelberg, 2013. 65–76.
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Seol, Young-Joon, et al. “Bioprinting technology and its applications.” European Journal of Cardio-Thoracic Surgery (2014):ezu148.
- 15.
3-D printing human tissue and organs to ‘spark ethics debate’ The Telegraph, 29 January 2014, available on the Internet at http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/news/10604035/3-D-printing-human-tissue-and-organs-to-spark-ethics-debate.html
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Note added proof (October 2016). The Karolinska Institute dismissed Macchiarini in March 2016. A summary of the lengthy and ongoing scandal concerning him is summarized on retractionwatch.com.
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Acknowledgment
The author thanks the following for comments and suggestions regarding earlier drafts of this article: Scott Hollister (Univ. of Michigan), David Snyder (ECRI, Plymouth Meeting PA), and volume editors Diane Michelfelder and Byron Newberry for editorial suggestions.
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Foster, K.R. (2017). 3-Dimensional Printing in Medicine: Hype, Hope, and the Challenge of Personalized Medicine. In: Michelfelder, D., Newberry, B., Zhu, Q. (eds) Philosophy and Engineering. Philosophy of Engineering and Technology, vol 26. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-45193-0_16
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