Additive manufacturing in the healthcare space is super interesting and has been really exciting to watch. The big players (Stryker, Medtronic, Smith and Nephew, etc) are rapidly approaching the intersection of multiple technologies that will make surgery outcomes wildly more successful simply by being able to customize the solution to the patient.

Consider how far just joint replacement has come in the last decade. Starting in the late 70s early 80s and the patients joint was cut to fit a standard implant regardless of any other factor. In the 2000s they started creating cutting blocks to form the patient’s anatomy to an implant system selected to best fit the patient. By the 2010s they started using 3D printed, patient specific cutting block and jigs. Now they are printing the implants themselves. All of these advancements paired with robotics, real time computer assisted navigation, and a host of other diagnostic tools…mmm mmm mmm.

We may be living through the fall of humanity but at least our failing joints won’t be the reason we die during the Water Wars of the 2050s.