Cancer Patient Receives 3D-Printed Titanium Sternum and Ribs

An anonymous reader writes: A Spanish cancer patient diagnosed with chest wall sarcoma has received the world's first 3D printed titanium sternum and rib cage. Anatomics, an Australian medical device company, designed and manufactured the metal rib cage. Cnet reports: "Once printed, finished and polished, the implant was couriered to the Salamanca University Hospital, where it was implanted into the patient's chest. It has now been two weeks since the surgery, and the patient has been discharged is recovering well."

XMen

[brunes69]

Sounds like this guy is 20% on the way to becoming wolverine. Just needs to replicate this procedure with his arms, spine, and skull...!

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[Chris Mattern]

Wolverine? Titanium's good, but adamantium's better.

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[fourthrail16309]

Tony Stark's got nothing on this guy. Awesome tech.

Re:Adamantium next?

[peragrin]

Not for a while yet. Adamantium has to be processed and kept hot until forming. If you think ink jets get clogged easily you haven't seen adamantium yet.

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[Coren22]

Well, dwarves do enjoy their trap designs. Testing them on hell spawn would be rather entertaining.

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[Applehu Akbar]

He has a new lease on life, but he'll never fly again.

Not impressed

[PopeRatzo]

Titanium sternum? That's nothing. I had an aunt with a cedar chest.

Re:Not impressed

[PopeRatzo]

Also, I remember overhearing my dad talking about a guy with brass balls.

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[plover]

I know a guy with nerves of steel. I always wondered why they weren't copper, it's a much better conductor.

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[Nidi62]

Also, I remember overhearing my dad talking about a guy with brass balls.

You joke, but the personal trainer I used to go to was diagnosed with testicular cancer and had to have one removed. When the doctor presented him with options for prosthetic, while they did not have brass as an option, they did have different sizes. So it is now quite possible to literally have a big pair of balls.

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[Doug Otto]

So it is now quite possible to literally have a big pair of balls.

Oh, it's always been possible.

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[ArmoredDragon]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v... [youtube.com]

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[PopeRatzo]

I have to ask, because I can't help myself: how did this come up in conversation anyway?

Guys in the gym talk about everything, but eventually, the conversation always turns to our genitalia. We can't help ourselves. It's the greatest benefit of having external genitals. It's like a plaything that's always with you and you never get tired of.

A female I know once poetically described her exclusion from the external genital club as being like a Jew at Christmas, upset because you don't have a tree with a sh

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[cdrudge]

They're also available for your pet [neuticles.com] in case they are feeling depressed and self conscious after being neutered.

Great tech, but awful picture

[rmdingler]

Imagine having to replace your entire rib cage because it is cancer-ridden. =Gee-zus!

My Monday is looking up.

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[Nidi62]

Imagine having to replace your entire rib cage because it is cancer-ridden. =Gee-zus!

On the bright side, think of the bar bets he can win now. "Bet you $100 you can stab me in the chest and it won't even hurt me."

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[bev_tech_rob]

Imagine having to replace your entire rib cage because it is cancer-ridden. =Gee-zus!

On the bright side, think of the bar bets he can win now. "Bet you $100 you can stab me in the chest and it won't even hurt me."

Gonna suck if he ever tries to fly anywhere. Will have to carry a ream of documentation showing what he has...

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[dunkelfalke]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com]

Finally can sing...

[Anonymous Coward]

I am titaniummm!

Thanks socialized medicine.

[tekrat]

And this person paid probably less than $10,000 for this operation, whereas, in the United States, with the greatest healthcare system in the world, the person would have simply died because he couldn't afford the $2 million pricetag.

Re:Thanks socialized medicine.

[kasparov]

> On $180k income, Australian's pay 50% taxes whereas American's only pay 28%. No, they don't. This grossly overstates how much is paid. They pay almost 45% on every dollar *over* $180k + the tax from the various income brackets below. At $180k, they would have an effective overall tax rate of 30.3%. The amount of tax paid asymptotically approaches 45% as their income approaches infinity.

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[Applehu Akbar]

"It would cost the same in Australia as it does America, the difference is only whether the persons Insurance program pays for it or your neighbors do through taxes."

Not quite. In the US we pay a lot more because of the monopoly nature of medicine.

Furthermore, the Australian and Canadian government medical systems save a lot by operating as one big buyer, negotiating for the best price. It is illegal for American governmental health programs, such as Medicare or Obamacare, to negotiate on price. Medicare ca

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[phaggood]

> difference is only whether the persons Insurance program pays for it by raising rates on everyone else or your neighbors do through increased borrowing and tax cuts for the wealthy.

FTFY

I'd like mine ...

[PPH]

... with the arc reactor option installed.

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[rubycodez]

that's been put on hold by the FDA until suitable non-toxic alternative to palladium is demonstrated, and in unrelated news many fried corpses of "makers" attempting to tap into 345KV feeder lines have been reported in several states

I wonder how long

[NicknameUnavailable]

Until society falls and the people who form the next society think we used to drill out people's chests by hand and hack at them with chisels to install crudely crafted titanium plates.