KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) – A children’s hospital in Kansas City, Missouri, has approved the $300,000 purchase of a third, deluxe 3-D printer to crank out more models faster.
Children’s Mercy Hospital radiologist Neil Mardis said at a presentation Thursday that he thinks 3-D printing will be a routine tool in medicine within five years. The Kansas City Star reports that the hospital’s journey in using the printers began two years ago when orthopedic surgeons told Mardis they wished they had a 3-D model of a patient’s hip rather than 2-D scans.
Mardis now oversees a lab with two 3-D printers with requests for models coming from a new surgeon almost every week.
He says when the hospital gets the new printer he will be able to print organs like hearts and livers.
