/ News
3D printed pelvis helps man with rare bone cancer keep walking
A surgeon has helped a man to walk again by 3D-printing him a new pelvis, it has been reported.
The unnamed patient had half of his original pelvis removed to stop the spread of chondrosarcoma, a rare type of cancer. But he is now able to walk using a stick, the Telegraph has reported.
Craig Gerrand, a consultant orthopaedic surgeon at Newcastle-upon-Tyne Hospitals NHS Trust, used a 3D printer to create the new bone.
Like traditional printers, 3D printers follow computer data to print objects out layer by layer.
“Since this cancer does not respond to drugs or radiotherapy, the only option was to remove half of the pelvis,” said Mr Gerrand.
Standard implants do not always fit well - and in this case so much bone needed removing that nothing would have been left to which an implant could have been attached, and the man’s leg would be left unattached to his spine and “hanging”, the surgeon told the newspaper.
Accepting the risks that the implant could fail to fit or fracture, the patient decided to go ahead, Dr Gerrand said.
A 3D printer constructs a model human figure in the exhibition '3D: printing the future' in the Science Museum in London, England. A similar machine was used to construct the patient's replacement pelvis.
To create the tailor-made pelvis half, doctors scanned the biological pelvis of the man in his 60s to measure exactly how much bone would need to be removed.
The team then loaded data into the printer which mapped the exact dimensions of the new, bespoke hip, using a laser to fuse titanium powder together.
The printed bone was then coated with a mineral which the remainder of his biological pelvis could grow and fuse into. A standard hip replacement was fitted into the new socket to complete the procedure.
Three years after the procedure, the patient is still happy with his pelvis.
3D printing has the potential to revolutionise medical care, with procedures from reconstructing other bones to printing scaffolding which stem cells can grow into new bones, in the pipeline.
It is believed that organs could also be printed on demand in the future.
Mr Gerrand told the newspaper he welcomes the debate by Lord Saatchi’s Medical Innovation Bill, which would give doctors a legal framework around which they would experiment with new medical treatments such as 3D printing.
“It’s fantastic that you can do cool surgery,” Mr Gerrand said, “but the real innovation will be when we don’t have to do this at all, because we have developed new treatments that can stop the cancer in its tracks.”
Source: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/3d-printed-pelvis-helps-man-with-rare-bone-cancer-keep-walking-9119473.html
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Founded by Russian entrepreneur Dmitry Itskov in February 2011 with the participation of leading Russian specialists in the field of neural interfaces, robotics, artificial organs and systems.
The main goals of the 2045 Initiative: the creation and realization of a new strategy for the development of humanity which meets global civilization challenges; the creation of optimale conditions promoting the spiritual enlightenment of humanity; and the realization of a new futuristic reality based on 5 principles: high spirituality, high culture, high ethics, high science and high technologies.
The main science mega-project of the 2045 Initiative aims to create technologies enabling the transfer of a individual’s personality to a more advanced non-biological carrier, and extending life, including to the point of immortality. We devote particular attention to enabling the fullest possible dialogue between the world’s major spiritual traditions, science and society.
A large-scale transformation of humanity, comparable to some of the major spiritual and sci-tech revolutions in history, will require a new strategy. We believe this to be necessary to overcome existing crises, which threaten our planetary habitat and the continued existence of humanity as a species. With the 2045 Initiative, we hope to realize a new strategy for humanity's development, and in so doing, create a more productive, fulfilling, and satisfying future.
The "2045" team is working towards creating an international research center where leading scientists will be engaged in research and development in the fields of anthropomorphic robotics, living systems modeling and brain and consciousness modeling with the goal of transferring one’s individual consciousness to an artificial carrier and achieving cybernetic immortality.
An annual congress "The Global Future 2045" is organized by the Initiative to give platform for discussing mankind's evolutionary strategy based on technologies of cybernetic immortality as well as the possible impact of such technologies on global society, politics and economies of the future.
Future prospects of "2045" Initiative for society
2015-2020
The emergence and widespread use of affordable android "avatars" controlled by a "brain-computer" interface. Coupled with related technologies “avatars’ will give people a number of new features: ability to work in dangerous environments, perform rescue operations, travel in extreme situations etc.
Avatar components will be used in medicine for the rehabilitation of fully or partially disabled patients giving them prosthetic limbs or recover lost senses.
2020-2025
Creation of an autonomous life-support system for the human brain linked to a robot, ‘avatar’, will save people whose body is completely worn out or irreversibly damaged. Any patient with an intact brain will be able to return to a fully functioning bodily life. Such technologies will greatly enlarge the possibility of hybrid bio-electronic devices, thus creating a new IT revolution and will make all kinds of superimpositions of electronic and biological systems possible.
2030-2035
Creation of a computer model of the brain and human consciousness with the subsequent development of means to transfer individual consciousness onto an artificial carrier. This development will profoundly change the world, it will not only give everyone the possibility of cybernetic immortality but will also create a friendly artificial intelligence, expand human capabilities and provide opportunities for ordinary people to restore or modify their own brain multiple times. The final result at this stage can be a real revolution in the understanding of human nature that will completely change the human and technical prospects for humanity.
2045
This is the time when substance-independent minds will receive new bodies with capacities far exceeding those of ordinary humans. A new era for humanity will arrive! Changes will occur in all spheres of human activity – energy generation, transportation, politics, medicine, psychology, sciences, and so on.
Today it is hard to imagine a future when bodies consisting of nanorobots will become affordable and capable of taking any form. It is also hard to imagine body holograms featuring controlled matter. One thing is clear however: humanity, for the first time in its history, will make a fully managed evolutionary transition and eventually become a new species. Moreover, prerequisites for a large-scale expansion into outer space will be created as well.
Key elements of the project in the future
• International social movement
• social network immortal.me
• charitable foundation "Global Future 2045" (Foundation 2045)
• scientific research centre "Immortality"
• business incubator
• University of "Immortality"
• annual award for contribution to the realization of the project of "Immortality”.
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