University of Florida 3-D printer gives patients new chance at mobilityJuly 27, 2018Chance, a greater Swiss mountain dog abandoned with a severe limb deformity, is walking better. Bebop, a pot-bellied pig is back to rooting in his yard after a painful shoulder injury stopped him. Chance and Bebop are the first two clinical cases treated over the past six months at the University of Florida College of Veterinary Medicine through a state-of-the-art 3-D printer that uses high-performance plastics and offers numerous advances in patient care, teaching, and research, according to UF veterinarians. Among the printer's capabilities are the ability to create bone models with which veterinarians can "practice" a surgical procedure prior to actual surgery, as well as patient-specific surgical guides that improve accuracy and reduce surgery time, according to the university. "We have the Rolls Royce of 3-D printers," said Adam Biedrzycki, BVSc, Ph.D., an assistant professor of large animal surgery at UF, who purchased the printer with startup funds when he was hired by the UF College of Veterinary Medicine three years ago. "It can not only print parts that are approved in the aerospace industry to go into aircraft but also parts that are biocompatible for medical applications. That is, they can be used in live tissues." …
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