Monday, May 4, 2015

3D PRINTING OFFERS NEW HOPE TO CHILDREN WITH TBM


Tracheobronchomalacia (TBM) is a rare condition that occurs when the walls of the airway (specifically the trachea and bronchi) are weak. This can cause the airway to become narrow or collapse.

There are two forms of TBM: a congenital form (called primary TBM) that typically develops during infancy or early childhood and an acquired form (called secondary TBM) that is usually seen in adults.

Some affected people may initially have no signs or symptoms. However, the condition is typically progressive and most people will eventually develop characteristic features such as shortness of breath, cough, sputum retention (inability to clear mucus from the respiratory tract), and wheezing or stridor with breathing.

Most cases of primary TBM are caused by genetic conditions that weaken the walls of the airway, while the secondary form often occurs incidentally due to trauma, chronic inflammation and/or prolonged compression of the airways.

3D printing has come to the rescue of severe cases of a childhood disease in which the windpipe is softened, leading to collapse of the airway and breathing failure. Previously lacking any adequate intervention, tracheobronchomalacia has found an innovative fix in three babies whose condition presented them with little chance of reaching young childhood.

Researchers at the University of Michigan's C.S. Mott Children's Hospital in Ann Arbor say the three boys have become the "first in the world to benefit from groundbreaking 3D-printed devices" to stent their airways in such a way as to allow the supports to keep up with their growth.

Designed to accommodate airway growth while preventing external compression over a period of time before bioresorption, the technology allows for the particular problem of radial expansion of the airway over the critical period of growth. "If a child can be supported through the first 24 to 36 months of tracheobronchomalacia, airway growth generally results in a natural resolution of this disease," write the authors.


Watch:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s9r2gYT0aX4

Full article:
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/293224.php

Images via New England Journal of Medicine & University of Michigan
CORINA MARINESCU

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