Regrowing parts of a human skull using a 3D printer and stem cells could be on the verge of becoming reality.
A team of Australian researchers say it can do it and is getting ready to start human trials next year.
If successful, it could revolutionise biomedical engineering.
Ryan Emery reports.
In the basement of Royal Perth Hospital, technology and medicine are achieving remarkable results.
A team of medical specialists says it can use 3D printers, bioceramics and stem cells to re-grow parts of a human skull.
Dr Alan Kop is one of the biomedical materials engineers on the project.
"The stem cells we're putting on as a signaling agent, so we're hoping that the stem cells will signal to the local tissue surrounding where our scaffold is and say: 'we need to get some bone regrowth here' and that's what we mainly think they're for to signal the surrounding area."
Bioceramics, which are made of elements found in bone such as calcium phosphate, are already widely used.
But the RPH team hopes that by adding adult stem cells, the bioceramic will be resorbed by the body as bone grows in its place.
Dr Kop says bioceramic is strong, but it's brittle.
"The bone's made up of both a mineral phase and also collagen so it's got the best properties of all and we can't yet recreate that. We can come close, but we can't recreate what nature's already provided us.
(Reporter) Why is that? Just extraordinarily complex?
It is because the material that makes up the bone is nano sized. And people talk about nano-chemistry and doing things that are nano sized, but we're unable to fully mimic the bone so we can come close, but we still can't mimic exactly what the bone is."
The bioceramic skull pieces are made in Vienna, but everything else happens in house.
Royal Perth Hospital prints its own 3D skull models, grows its own TGA approved stem cells and can put them all together.
Dr David Morrison is another biomedical engineer on the team.
He says the hospital is saving time and money - and so are the patients - by doing so much at the same location.
Having their own 3D printers - that print plastics - also gives surgeons a highly accurate 3D model so they can familiarise themselves with a patient's anatomy.
"They're very hands on people. Obviously they're very good at interpreting CT data and x-rays and things like that, but if you hand them a model of a patient's anatomy, they go: 'ah, it's very easy to see what's going on here,' and having the actual models available in theatre saves time in the operating room and that's a huge cost implication for the hospital. If you can save even a few minutes in surgery, you can save a lot of money."
Dr Kop says the team is looking for volunteer patients and hopes to start trials next year.
If successful, it could open a field of biomedical engineering that would revolutionise body repair.
"Well this is the start. There's many situations in the body, particularly the bones, where there's real difficulties in what we can do for people. And so we're hoping that by starting with the skull, and replacing that, and getting success, we can look at other areas like the jawbone, the mandible, and perhaps long bones as well, but that's a longer-term focus."
