Additive manufacturing popularly, known as 3D printing is an emerging technology in different sectors providing new innovations and advancements. In today’s world, 3D printing manufactures several models and equipment in several different industries such as automobile industry, aerospace industry, and healthcare industry. The 3D printing plays a crucial role in different sectors. In the healthcare sector, 3D printing has been utilized to provide an accurate and precise product as per customization. 3D printing was developed by Charles W “Chuck” Hull in 1984. The healthcare in Global 3D Printing in Healthcare Market is growing with 21%.
The 3D printing is playing an important role in various applications for manufacturing various customized products in healthcare such as implants, prosthetics, dental implants, hip and knee implants, and surgical instruments. The demand for customized prosthetic and implants in the healthcare sector has an increasing demand for technological advancement in the 3D printing. When compared with the previous decades in medical technology, there was mass production of implants of fixed sizes and casts/moulds. These types of implants that were produced on a large scale were not manufactured as per the customer, leading to various types of problems such as issues of uneasiness leading to discomfort. The implants and prosthetics produced by 3D printing leads to patient’s satisfaction with proper fitting and size, providing customer with comfort. For example, during 2018, a 5-year boy named as Cameron Haight was suffering from Amniotic Band Syndrome that lead to the deformation of fingers and toes. The child was provided with a 3D printed implant that enabled to provide satisfactory results. Similarly, during 2016, an Australian woman received a 3D printed ear as she lost an ear due to a car accident. The ear was made up of a silicone material that had similar texture of the skin with a titanium implant.
Additionally, 3D printing utilizes software to analyse the anatomy of the patient and compose the product as per the size and the requirement. This reduces the time for the manufacturing of customized product, reducing the time and cost of the surgery. The traditional method was costing more than $25,000, whereas the prosthetic hand manufactured through 3D printing can range from $200- $2000.
3D printing in healthcare sector has various key players that provide orthopaedic implants, dental implants and different printers for manufacturing of implants .3D Systems, Envisiontech GMBH, Stryker Corporation and Stratasys Ltd. are considered to be some of the key companies in the Global 3D Printing in Healthcare Market sector for customized products.
The Global 3D Printing in Healthcare Market is expected to have a brighter future during the forecast period, as continuous technological advancement is playing a major role in the development. Increasing number of accidents lead to several serious conditions such as loss of hand, legs or serious injuries of hip and knee, which will act as opportunities for customized prosthetics and implants.