3D printing is a process of making a three-dimensional solid object of virtually any shape from a digital model. 3D printable models may be created with a 3D scanner. To perform a print, the machine reads the design from 3D printable file and lays down successive layers of liquid, powder, paper or sheet material to build the model from a series of cross sections. These layers, which correspond to the virtual cross sections from the model, are joined or automatically fused to create the final shape. The primary advantage of this technique is its ability to create almost any shape or geometric feature.The 3D printing technology is used for both prototyping and distributed manufacturing with applications in architecture, construction, industrial design, automotive, aerospace, military, engineering, dental and medical industries, biotech (human tissue replacement), fashion, footwear, jewelry, eyewear, education, geographic information systems, food, and many other fields. Several projects and companies are develop affordable 3D printers for home desktop use.

NBC News reports that doctors in the Netherlands have for the first time successfully replaced most of a human’s skull with a 3-D printed plastic one – and likely saved a woman’s life in the process.The 23-hour surgery took place three months ago at University Medical Center Utrecht. The hospital announced details of the groundbreaking operation this week and said the patient, a 22-year-old woman, is doing just fine.

The woman, whose name wasn’t released, suffered from severe headaches due to a thickening of her skull. She slowly lost her vision, her motor coordination was suffering and it was only a matter of time before other essential brain functions would have atrophied, Dr. Verweij said in a press release issued by UMC Utrecht. Verweij noted that in some brain operations it’s common for part of the skull to be temporarily removed to reduce pressure on the brain, then put back later or replaced by an artificial implant. In this case, doctors inserted nearly an entire plastic skull that was manufactured with the help of Anatomics, an Australian medical device company that specializes in 3-D printing,

“We used to create an implant by hand in the operating theater using a kind of cement, but those implants did not have a very good fit,” Dr. Verweij said. “Now we can use 3-D printing to ensure that these components are an exact fit. This has major advantages, not only cosmetically but also because patients often have better brain function compared with the old method.”

Three months after surgery, the woman’s pain is gone and she can see again. “The patient has fully regained her vision, she has no more complaints, she’s gone back to work and there are almost no traces that she had any surgery at all,” said Dr. Verweij.

In another success story, Business Insider reports that a British surgeon successfully implanted a 3-D printed pelvis for a man who lost half his pelvis to bone cancer. It was the first transplant of its kind. The patient, who is in his sixties and has remained unnamed, suffered from a rare type of bone cancer called chondrosarcoma. It affected the entire right side of his pelvis. According to orthopedic surgeon Craig Gerrand, who performed the surgery, it would have been impossible to attach a standard implant because so much bone had to be removed. In order to create the 3-D printed pelvis, the surgeons took scans of the man’s pelvis to take exact measurements of how much 3-D printed bone needed to be produced and passed it along to Stanmore Implants. The company used the scans to create a titanium 3-D replacement, by fusing layers of titanium together and then coating it with a mineral that would allow the remaining bone cells to attach. After the titanium pelvis was attached, the team added a standard hip replacement to complete the surgery. The procedure, which happened three years ago, was an unrivaled success. The man has been walking with a cane and remains happy with the results.

3D printing is revolutionizing the health care sector: The technology has been successfully used to make prosthetic limbs, custom hearing aids, now a pelvis and a human skull, and potentially human tissue by what is called “bioprinting.”