Image courtesy of Naypong at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

I was reading a great article called “Materialise HeartPrint 3D Printing Service” about how medical scans are being used to make 3D models and then 3D prints of a patient’s heart.  I remember my orthodontist making a model of my teeth, but this is totally different.  In this case a doctor could show you just where a blockage or other issue was and what they intended to do.  Medicine can be complex and procedures often difficult to describe.  If a picture is worth a thousand words, maybe a personalized model is worth a million.  Models also allow doctors to test the fit of internal medical devices as no person is quite the same.  You can read more on the company’s official website here.  No doubt similar technology could be useful with tumors, reconstruction and other procedures.  We all remember that skeleton or generic anatomical model in the corner of our biology class, now you can have a personalized one made of you!  A lot of projections have medical as a major percentage of 3D printing revenue going forward, so look for more cool medical applications in the future.