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3D printers can now read CT scans and produce bone models (singularityhub.com)

56 points by swatthatfly ↗ HN
Thanks to surgeon Mark Frame, 3D printers can now read CT scans and produce bone models at a fraction of the previous cost. To accomplish this he used OsiriX, an image processing package specific for the kinds produced by imaging equipment, such as CT scanners. As OsiriX is open source software that runs on mac OS, Frame was able to use it free of charge. He then used a program called MeshLab – also open source, and free, for Mac – to clean up the image and make them medical quality. Finally, this image was sent for printing. Seven days later the model bone arrived in the mail. All for £77.

Frame and colleagues have started a company that makes the models for you. Just send 3D-OM your CT scan and they’ll send you back your model. Heck, it’s so cheap now, if you’ve got a CT scan you might just want to get the model for fun.

12 comments

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ben1040
I recently did Invisalign, and when I got my set of aligner trays I noticed that they clearly had been produced on a 3D printer (you could see the layers made as the laser scanned across the piece).

On looking into it, I learned that the impressions my dentist took are sent off to be CT scanned and then put through Invisalign's software to generate models to be 3D printed for every iteration of the treatment. This just seemed pretty awesome to me that this was possible.

evan_
surely the impressions were 3D scanned, not CT scanned.
nickpinkston
Yea, totally. CT is still too expensive for nearly everything, and the data is unwieldy.
nickpinkston
Yes, it's true Invisalign are made on a large bank of SLA machines. It's actually such a large application, that every graph on "Parts Produced" for 3D printing has a adjustment for them.
methodin
At first glance I thought this was going to tell me they can now replace bones that are identical to the ones in your body. This is still completely awesome nonetheless - the doctor could literally show you what they intend to do and the practice for surgeons this could offer I imagine would be priceless.
leeoniya
honestly, this seems like a no-brainer. i'm not sure what took so long to get this done. both 3d scanners and 3d printers have been around for decades. the fact that it was mere matter of procuring the scanned data in a standard, open-source interoperable format is a big fail.
vsviridov
I think it doesn't happen because of the way medical insurance is set up in the States. No doctor has to "vote with their wallet" so to speak.

"Oh, hey, a model bone is going to cost us $1200? Whatever, the insurance company is paying for it". No pressing need to save money and optimize their processes...

Providentian
It has taken a while for the printers to come down the cost curve, and for materials to come up the quality curve. I was talking to the CEO of Z Corp (a $50M 3D printng company) and he gave a great example of how, for Clark's Shoes, they've been able to go from small scale looks-like prototypes, to full-size prototypes, to functional shoes, over 10 years. Apparently functional prosthetics are next.
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teilo
That's because they have no intention of ever doing so. It's a model, and is good for things that models are good for. That's very clear from the article.
teilo
I imagine that there will be some people with too much money on their hands who will now attempt to own a model of their own skeleton - just because.