Issue link: https://tmcpulse.uberflip.com/i/610185
t m c » p u l s e | d e c e m b e r 2 0 1 5 5 I n this day and age, 3-D printing seems to be the trend that doesn't show any indication of losing steam. In fact, the technology is quickly advancing and new applications for it are being discovered every day. For the maker community and hobbyists, 3-D printing represents a democratization of manufactur- ing, marking a new wave of mass personalization and offering the layman the opportunity to return to the age of working with their hands, a zeitgeist reminis- cent of the Industrial Revolution. With all the well-deserved hype and acclaim 3-D printers are receiving these days from the general public and large industries, it only makes sense that the technology has already made inroads in the medical industry, as well. Rajesh Krishnamurthy, M.D., section chief of radiology research at Texas Children's Hospital, has been using 3-D printing in his department since early 2011. Over the past four years, the hospital has created a total of approximately 200 models, averag- ing 50 models per year. "[3-D printing] was literally the cool thing on the block. We didn't really feel this was going to give us a huge amount of incremental value over advanced 3-D modeling, but we started seeing the impact on cases, and that's when we realized this is going to be helpful," Krishnamurthy said. "Now we're focused on convinc- ing the rest of the world that's the case." What started out as a curiosity, printing musculo- skeletal structures, quickly burgeoned into a relatively in-demand practice, with Krishnamurthy currently juggling five requests for 3-D printed models. Now, equipped with two in-house 3-D printers, creating model bones at Texas Children's is child's play. Shaping the Future of Patient Care How 3-D printing is changing the way doctors approach pre-operative care B y S h a n l e y C h i e n We're using imaging tech- niques to see images we've never really seen before. We're planning a surgery we've never done before. That's where this stuff is really valuable in terms of the frontiers in medicine. — STEPHEN LITTLE, M.D. Director of the Valve Clinic at Houston Methodist DeBakey Heart and Vascular Center