3D printer 'bone filament' simulates real bones, helps surgeons practice operations

A Redditor shared on the platform using a ‘bone-simulating’ filament to 3D print a sample test rib for planning surgeries. User u/PectusSurgeon said on r/3Dprinting that they will also use TPU to print simulated cartilage but will still have to work out how to attach it to the PLA bone and “make it behave like the real thing.”

It seems that the Redditor used the SimuBone Bone Modeling Filament created by 3DXTech to print the test rib, and according to the user’s feedback, it mostly feels like the real thing. “My main concern was whether it would melt from the heat generated by friction with the saw,” u/PectusSurgeon said in reply to one of the comments. “At 75% infill it’s pretty rigid but still has some flex to it. Cartilage will be trickier but there are lots of kinds of TPU that have different amounts of elasticity.”

The availability of these kinds of filaments for 3D printing is crucial for the medical industry. It could allow surgeons and other medical professionals to practice working on physical models that feel close to the actual patient without putting anyone at risk. This is especially true for unique and complicated cases, where doctors and hospital technicians could use imaging data to recreate the patient’s unique biology so that the surgeons could practice the operation before actually performing it on the patient.

Another Reddit user was quick to thank the original poster for the idea, and they said that they would float the idea at their workplace to create models. However, a single roll of SimuBone filament costs $98 for a 750g roll, which is pretty steep. u/PectusSurgeon suggested using wood PLA filament instead to build teaching models, as it only costs around a third of the simulated bone filament and still handles similarly.

But for operations, the more expensive filament is worth it. When asked if the 3D-printed bone looks the same as the real one when cut, u/PectusSurgeon said, “Usually there’s blood +/- marrow in there, but for simulation purposes, this is pretty good. Mostly interested in making sure it was mechanically similar and didn’t melt when I sawed it.”