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Rapid Prototyping (RP) industry announced free medical support for victims of the Iraq War. Desktop Engineering, June, 2005. Companies are donating services and expertise to provide prosthetics for wounded soldiers.
Laser Scanning Brings 3D Imaging to Dentistry. Author: Jill Aitoro. Time Compression Technologies, Jan. 2005. Using scanning couple with CNC to fabricate dental prosthetics quickly and in quantity.
Rapid Prototyping Better Bones. Author: John Connolly. Time Compression Technologies, Jan. 2005. A description of Advanced Ceramics Research Plasti-Bone (TM) process. The material used is a biologically compatible polymer plastic enclosed by a porous ceramic coating which eventually is replaced by the patient's own bone.
Technology makes More Time for the Human Touch. Author: anon. Cadalyst, Nov 15, 2004. Using scanning and milling technology to minimize time and tedium in creating prosthetic parts for facial reconstruction. Case study of making a prosthetic ear by scanning the remaining ear, and creating a mirror-image ear in wax.
SL models guide surgeons during intricate operation. Author: Jean M. Hoffman. Machine Design, December 11, 2003. Describes the use of stereolithography in the process of separating Egyptian conjoined twins, Ahmed and Mohamad Ibrahim.
Plastic bones thrill doctors to the marrow. Author: Neil Gross. Business Week, June 23, 2003. The Office of Naval Research has developed bone replacement techniques and teamed up with Advanced Ceramics Research Inc.for more advanced applications. A calcium phosphate scaffold is used for implantation and is absorbed over the course of about 18 months.
Body by science: tissue engineers advance in bid to build organs in the lab, but significant roadblocks remain. Author: Aileen Constans. The Scientist, Oct 6, 2003. Describes a wide range of techniques to fabricate organs and scaffolds and also discusses recent business failures by pioneer companies Organogenesis and Advanced Tissue Sciences (ATS).
Desktop printing of living tissue. R & D Magazine, March, 2003. Discusses work done jointly at Clemson University and the Medical University of South Carolina to create three-dimensional tissue structures using inkjet printing techniques. Providing tisues with blood vessels is a big challenge, but custom-fabricated tissues for drug testing may not be far off.
Ink-jet printing creates tubes of living tissue. Author: Charles Choi. New Scientist, January 22, 2003. Three-dimensional tubes of living tissue have been printed using modified desktop printers filled with suspensions of cells instead of ink. The work is a first step towards printing complex tissues or even entire organs. The work of Vladimir Mironov of the Medical University of South Carolina and Thomas Boland of Clemson University is described. Closely printed tissues are shown to fuse together. One of the critical components in the process is a thermo-reversible gel which is liquid below 20 deg C and solidifies above 32 deg C. The material is used to create a degradable scaffold. [Same work discussed as in R & D article, above.]
An esthetic and removable orthodontic treatment option for patients: Invisalign[R]. Authors: Alton Bishop, Randol Womack and Mitra Derakhshan. The Dental Assistant, Sept-Oct 2002. [Link is to a copy of the article on the FindArticles.com web-site.] Case studies and an overall description of the Invisalign [R] process which uses clar plastic aligners fabricated with the use of stereolithography.
Rapid Prototyping Provides Speed, Cost-Effective Castings. Modern Casting, Nov. 2001. Biomet, Inc., designs and manufactures implantable castings for hip replacement and other applications using ABS patterns built by a Stratasys FDM RP system.
