3D printer manufacturer Formlabs has created a soft and pliable -- yet durable -- material that clinicians can use to make anatomical models with desktop 3D printers.
Researchers, physicians, and other healthcare professionals usually have to outsource requests for 3D-printed models that replicate the texture of real tissue. Such models are typically composed of flexible silicone and urethane materials only compatible with large industrial 3D printers.
Formlabs' elastic resin allows users to produce clear, flexible 3D-printed anatomical models on a desktop 3D printer in a matter of hours, according to the company.
"Elastic resin's opacity illuminates internal cavities well and its durability means that educators, trainees, and clinicians can handle and examine [3D-printed] models without worry of breakage," Dr. Sanjay Prabhu, clinical director of the 3D printing lab at Boston Children's Hospital, said in a statement from Formlabs. "This material will be of particular interest to cardiovascular surgeons and interventional radiologists, as well as those conducting fluid dynamics studies and working in catheterization labs."
