This is a rare disease and the life of the patient was in danger. The medical surgery solution was possible due to the 3D printing technology. The skull built in transparent plastic was made by an Australian firm from an appropriate but unveiled plastic material with some special characteristics. Some other details of the intervention, pointing to the fixation method and the integration of the skull to the protective layer of the brain are not yet publicly available. The patient is in a good state and it’s expected she will recover and get back to a normal life(sort of). Her brain, covered with transparent material, can be additionally monitored for scientific purposes.
The 3D printing technology, or additive manufacturing, is a process of making a three-dimensional solid object of virtually any shape from a digital model, successive layers of material being laid down. A 3D printer is a some industrial robot working under computer control. The new technology has imagined in 1980s but became commercially available in 2010s. More spectacular applications are expected in the future.
