Getting inked: 3D printed organs and smart tattoos to transform future of biomedicine and electronics

While you might not expect the engineer to be a resource in the battle against prostate cancer, additive manufacturing technology is taking steps to make prostate – and other organ – surgeries safer by printing life-like, patient specific models that look and feel like the real things.

Our research team, led by the University of Minnesota, printed artificial organ models using a custom-built 3D printer and specially designed silicone-based inks, which can be fine-tuned to match each individual patient’s prostate tissue. Created from the patient’s MRI scan and matched to actual patient tissue samples, these new organ models look and feel like actual prostates – an improvement over existing versions, which are generally hard plastic or rubber.

Surgeons can stitch and suture the life-like models as they would the actual organ, helping them to better prepare for complicated surgeries. We’ve also attached 3D printed soft sensors to the models in order to provide real-time feedback to the surgeon. The quantitative data indicates the amount of force they are using on the model during the practice surgery, so they know exactly how much pressure to exert in the operating theatre to avoid damaging the organ.