You Can Get a 3-D-Printed Cast for a Broken Bone, but It Will Cost You

By: Catherine Caruso

Narrated by: Joe Knezevich

Every year, some six million people in the United States break a bone, and each injury is cloaked with a heavy sheath of fiberglass or plaster while it heals - a treatment that’s been the same for generations. But casts are finally getting a modern spin. 3-D-printed casts boast an open-lattice plastic design that’s customized to the individual patient. They’re waterproof, they’re more comfortable, and they may even help the bones heal faster. The casts are part of a larger movement toward personalized 3-D-printed medical devices.

"You Can Get a 3-D-Printed Cast for a Broken Bone, but It Will Cost You" is from technologyreview.com, published on July 25, 2016.

©2016 Massachusetts Institute of Technology (P)2016 Audible, Inc.