Getting Under Your Skin: 3D Printing Technique Builds Structures Through Tissues
5th January 2025
What if a clinician could 3D print something through your skin, constructing an implant or replacement organ underneath layers of tissue? The world of medicine would be transformed: a host of surgical procedures, which come with a variety of risks, could be performed without ever lifting a scalpel.
A collaborative, NIH-funded team is working to make this Star Trek-like fiction a reality. Their work, published today in Science, outlines a method to print biocompatible structures through thick, multi-layered tissues. The principle? Focused ultrasound, combined with a novel ultrasound-sensitive ink.
“Focused ultrasound has been used for decades to treat a wide variety of conditions, underscoring its safety and utility as a clinical tool,” said Randy King, Ph.D., a program director in the Division of Applied Science & Technology at NIBIB. “This potential new application, built on years of technology advancements, could set the stage for something previously thought impossible: through-tissue 3D ultrasound printing.”