3D revolution |The press

The very first medical implant made in Canada with a printer will be born in Quebec

(Quebec) "The first patient we are going to treat does not yet know that he has cancer.Probably he is with him, that he feels pain and tells himself that it will pass ... "

Le D^r Benoît Guay répare depuis des années les dégâts causés par les tumeurs de la bouche.The oto-rhino-laryngologist (ENT) and surgeon, who works at the CHU of Quebec-University Laval (CHU), knows too well how they can slyly erode the jaw and saw it in half.

In February, a new weapon will allow him to alleviate the suffering of certain patients: the very first medical implant made in Canada with a 3D printer.

This technology - also called additive manufacturing - revolutionizes medicine by making it possible to produce - one at a time - tailor -made prostheses, perfectly suited to the anatomy of each patient.

The new jaw implants will be modeled at the CHU from x -rays.They will then be printed in the 3D anatomical reconstruction laboratory in Investissement Québec - Quebec Industrial Research Center (CRIQ), a state -owned company that helps Quebec companies adopt new technologies.

This is the first time that Health Canada has authorized a Canadian organization to market a 3D printed medical implant.

CHU and CRIQ made this first after four years of effort.

Health Canada allows them to supply all Canadian hospitals who will request it, provided they respect certain delivery standards.

« On vient d’ouvrir une voie qui n’existait pas»»

The authorization obtained concerns a thin titanium bar, designed to rebuild the lower jaw by fixing a new bone segment.

And it is only the beginning, predicted the vice-president of the CRIQ, Lyne Dubois, who envisages other collaborations and the manufacture of other implants."We have just opened a way to Quebec entrepreneurs a path that did not exist," she rejoices (see next tab).

Mechanical engineer Olivier Marcotte, who also works in CRIQ, abounds in the same direction."Regardless of the form to be produced, you can use the same device.This is a big advantage, "he said.

Le D^r Gaston Bernier, chef médical du Service de médecine dentaire en oncologie au CHU, compte déjà concevoir d’autres types d’implants."We can make new solutions in a few days.Radiography and transformation software is enough, ”he says.

No need to go through multinationals!We have all the experts and all the raw material in Quebec.We can very well develop an autonomous production capacity at a reasonable cost.

Le D^r Gaston Bernier, chef médical du Service de médecine dentaire en oncologie au CHU de Québec-Université Laval

The dentist-oncologist is hopeful of being able to obtain-on a case-by-case basis-the special permission to set up prostheses intended for the upper jaw, the skull, the spine, etc..

More precise and faster reconstruction

Rebuild a lower jaw currently requires ten hours.Surgeons must take a piece of leg bone and carefully sculpt it to replace the cancer zone.

The metal bars used to connect everything must be curved with meticulousness, then sterilized, in full intervention.Which can take an hour.

The new CRIQ implants will already have perfectly molded and sterilized.

By saving an hour of surgery, we will save an hour of bleeding and we will reduce the suffering, the risks of infections and the complications.We will less need to bring patients back to the operating room, to occupy beds and resources.

Le D^r Benoît Guay, ORL et chirurgien au CHU de Québec-Université Laval

Currently, more than 10 % of patients should be re -worked in the first year.

« Dans certains cas, les plaques actuelles fracturaient et pouvaient même transpercer la peau, expose le D^r Guay.Everything started to move, the patient could no longer eat.»»

No longer having to be folded, the new implants are made of a more resistant alloy.In addition to marrying the outline of the bone to perfection, so they are smaller. « Le résultat s’avérera beaucoup plus esthétique»», affirme le chirurgien.

CRIQ implants are accompanied by cutting and screwing guides, also adapted to the anatomy of each patient, he specifies."Because if the bar is not placed exactly in the right place, the teeth will close and eat will be difficult.»»

If all is well, a dozen Quebec patients will benefit from this innovation in 2022, and thereafter, several dozen.

Diapers as thin as paper

CRIQ medical printers are higher than a human, but the internal chamber that houses their creations is less than a square meter.To print a mandibular bar requires ten hours.Metal powder layers as thin as a sheet of paper added, placed one by one by the head of the printer.Behind a green glass, which cuts the wavelengths, light lines appear intermittently.They are caused by a laser beam guided by software.The laser melts the strata of powder in the desired places to merge them.

Mouth cancer

About 450 new cancers in the mouth are diagnosed each year in Quebec.About 70 of them erod the lower jaw and can be healed (therefore eligible to receive a surgical implant)."Often when patients arrive in our office, they are at the end. Ça fait longtemps qu’ils ont de la douleur, qu’ils ont du mal à manger, qu’ils ne dorment pas»», constate l’ORL et chirurgien Benoît Guay, qui presse donc les gens de consulter sans tarder si des symptômes inhabituels perdurent, quels qu’ils soient.Alcohol, tobacco and the human papillom virus (HPV) - which mainly affects more wealthy people, unlike the first two factors - increase the risk.

8000000

Sum invested to develop and have the new mandibular implant of the CHU and Criq approve

0.5 to 1 million

Cost of CRIQ 3D printers

$ 15,000 to $ 20,000

Approximate price of the reconstruction bars printed in the first year (the unit price should drop depending on the volume)

Bridges in planes

Lighter concrete.Wood that resonates better.More resistant metal parts ... 3D printing not only upsets medicine, it transforms the manufacture of houses, planes, bridges, bicycle helmets, etc..Advantages ?End the waste of materials.And quickly create - often at lower cost - much more elaborate forms, without molding or assembly.

Drink

Tons of wood dust that leads to the dumping ground can be used to reproduce rare woods, imitating their grain, layer by layer.We would brake deforestation and precious wood trafficking that may disappear from the planet.Unlike the plywood, printed wood can be shortlisted in depth and borrow worked forms that a cabinetmaker would take several weeks to chisel. Ajuster la recette de fabrication permet d’améliorer ses propriétés, par exemple, en modulant la densité du « bois»» pour parfaire la sonorité d’une guitare ou augmenter la solidité d’un meuble.

Concrete

Unlike traditional concrete, concrete printed by successive layers does not need wooden formwork, which is thrown after use and which can represent 40 % of the costs of a project of construction.3D printing allows a bonus to create more easily - and faster - rounded or complex shapes.Some mixtures produce lighter concrete or much more resistant to natural disasters.In Canada, researchers from the University of Sherbrooke were the first to design an imposing!- 3D printer for concrete. Elle servira entre autres à « réparer des ponts ou des barrages à des endroits plus difficilement accessibles»», indique le site web de l’université. « On diminue le nombre de personnes présentes sur les chantiers, ce qui diminue par le fait même les risques de blessures»», précise le même texte.

Buildings

Seen from the sky, the very first house printed in Canada has a little shape of a snail shell.Located in Nelson, in southern British Columbia, she was born in 11 days before being displayed on the Airbnb platform in July in July.International World Housing, which has financed its construction, has already erected ten in southern Mexico, to house homeless families.Print walls and foundations is much faster and affordable than making them manually.As early as 2014, a Shanghai company printed in a single day the walls of 10 small buildings, using construction waste and cement.Last summer, a Danish company printed a school in Malawi - a world premiere.

Bridges

Since last summer, European pedestrians can tread two new 3D printed bridges.The first spans a channel in the Red Light district, in Amsterdam.Made of steel - a first - it is 12 meters long and weighs almost 5000 kg.The impression lasted six months.The second footbridge sits in a neighboring park of the Biennale gardens, in Venice.Over 50 concrete blocks have created its unique shape, which extends over 16 meters.They have the particularity of not being reinforced with steel and being removable.

Sport equipment

Since 2021, players from the National Hockey League have access to helmets with a 3D printed lining.In the shape of a lattice, it is lighter than traditional foam, better damages the impacts and breathes better.CCM hopes to allow Sunday players to benefit, by scanning their skull in stores.The manufacturer is counting on a Montreal firm, Shapeshift 3D, to transform this kind of scan into printing file.Since last November, the American company Smith Optics has sold ski glasses that are suitable for the face of each customer.They are therefore more waterproof while being less tight.The catch?Their cost: $ 510 CAN.In England, HERX markets tailor -made bicycle helmets (around $ 340 can each).The company manages to print 6 in 36 hours.

Food

Une trentaine de restaurants européens servent déjà des « steaks»» fabriqués en superposant des couches du soja, des pois, des betteraves, de la levure et du gras.The process makes it possible to imitate the fibrous texture of beef, lamb and pork. D’après une journaliste du quotidien britannique The Guardian, la ressemblance s’avère « troublante»».The Israeli company that has developed this false meat, Redefine Meat, says print about 10 kg per hour.Even more futuristic, and in the same country, Aleph Farms has printed real meat steaks from cultivated cow cells in laboratory.His pieces contain muscles and fat, and apparently prove to be juicy.The objective: to please carnivores using less water and land, and producing less methane.

Shoes

As of 2018, Adidas used 3D printing to produce trellis soles, supposed to mitigate the impact.Reebok, New Balance and Nike also print the soles of certain shoes.In Canada, Wiivv prints orthopedic soles and tailor -made plastic sandals from a scan made with a smartphone application.

Health

3D printing serves as a thousand ways in the health sector, among other things to produce tailor -made prostheses, which would be otherwise overpriced.The clinical site.Gov lists dozens of clinical trials putting this technology to the test.Some companies print 3D molds and try to grow cells.Australian researchers say they can print artificial bones directly inside the body, in the right place, thanks to a kind of ceramic mixed with patients of patients.

Metal

Print metal parts makes it possible to make prowess, indicates Lyne Dubois, vice-president of the Quebec Quebec Quebec Quebec Industrial Research Center. Ses experts ont notamment fabriqué, pour Pratt & Whitney, une pièce de moteur d’aéronef dotée d’un vide au centre, pour l’alléger – ce qui aurait été impossible avec l’usinage traditionnel.They also printed with a block a gear system, a toy tower dug with a tiny staircase and a corrugated and openwork room as lace. L’impression métallique prendra un « essor fulgurant»», prédit la société d’État, qui aide les entreprises à viser les pièces à imprimer et la manière de le faire, et qui leur prête ses experts et ses équipements de pointe. « Elles doivent se réorganiser, apprendre à produire de façon différente, plaide M^me Dubois, parce que les consommateurs veulent des produits personnalisés.»»

Rocket

Incredible but true.In the United States, relativity space uses gigantic printers to produce-in less than two months-whole rockets, from the engine to the bodywork.The company has announced that it would launch one 30 meters high in 2022, and manufacture a new model twice as large.

Précision : Le titre d’oto-rhino-laryngologiste (ORL) du D^r Guay a été ajouté après publication à celui de chirurgien.