A group of pediatric specialists at Children's Hospital of Pennsylvania are exploring the potential of 3-D printing to develop customized medical devices for children, according to a MedCity News report.
The market for pediatric medical devices is rather small, so pediatric devices aren't produced in mass. The specialists are researching 3-D printing's potential to "create customized devices for the complex needs of its pediatric patient populations," according to the report.
These pediatricians have formed a "think tank" of sorts to develop applications for 3-D printing technology among a handful of specialties, including cardiology, orthopedics and anesthesiology.
"The challenge is not about using the printer, but having the knowledge and expertise to know what the needs of each specialty are," Jorge Galvaz, MD, an anesthesiologist at CHOP and a professor of anesthesiology and critical care at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, said in the report.
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