3-Dimensional Printing in Medicine: Hype, Hope, and the Challenge of Personalized Medicine

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.