Medical 3D printing team takes home top prize in Lions’ Den competition

Three medical pitches. Five lions. Half a million dollars.

Three teams competed for a chance to win money for healthcare innovation. The premise of the show was similar to Dragon’s Den, where each team had one chance to pitch their ideas to a panel of lions (aka judges) to convince them to invest in their medical innovation projects. And all three teams delivered. The pitches had incredible life-saving ideas, which made the Lions’ decision challenging. Watch the full competition video.

First Place Team: Imaging Enhancement Centre

The winning team focused on creating an imaging enhancement centre including medical 3D printers. The team of surgeons and medical professionals are planning to use 3D printing to better prepare for surgery, reduce time in the operating room, improve patient outcomes, be more innovative and collaborative, and ultimately offer a better future for New Brunswickers. The centre will be the first of its kind in Atlantic Canada.

One of the biggest advantages of 3D printing for medical applications is the ability to better prepare for surgery. Surgeons can 3D print exact replicas of patient anatomy to better understand and plan for surgery. This ultimately makes the procedure more predictable and drastically reduces the amount of time spent in the operating room.

Watch the Image Enhancement Centre teams’ pitch video and results below:

Medical 3D Printers

3D printers were once just simple prototyping machines but those days are long gone! The technology has evolved over the years and offer advanced applications for just about any industry. There are now multiple technologies that can be used for medical 3D printing including FDM, PolyJet and the newest technologies SAF and P3. In the last few years, Stratasys has developed printers specifically for the medical industry with impressive realism capabilities that are having a major impact on healthcare.

The Stratasys J750 Digital Anatomy printer was designed specifically for the creation of medical models. It can produce accurate and realistic medical models that look and feel like the real thing. The printer can also be used for various applications including end-use medical devices, anatomical models and medical device prototypes and testing.

Below is a 3D printed heart produced on the J750 Digital Anatomy printer. 3D printed models feature functioning parts using the printer’s cardiac application. It uses specially created TissueMatrix materials to look, feel and function like actual human tissue.

3D printing technology is being used widely in hospitals across North America and the world. The applications and the medical success stories are truly inspiring.