Additive manufacturing (AM) is intended to solve the most complex design-to- manufacturing challenges. But what if the challenge ahead isn’t about saving weight or reducing costs? What if it’s impacting more than a vulnerable supply chain? What if it’s the most fragile thing in the world? Someone’s world?
That’s the challenge Dr. Cristina Borràs and a team at the Neonatology unit of the Hospital Clínic de Barcelona tasked themselves with when they set out to explore if 3D printing could provide a better pathway for personalised neonatal care.
For many parents who have experienced a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU), one of the most potent memories will be that of the machinery: the beeping of monitors, the wires, the masks. It’s another world, and it can feel overwhelming.
“I remember when my mum and dad visited for the first time,” Katy Leedam-Byrne, a NICU mum, recalls to TCT of her family’s experience on a ward in 2022. “I had to prep them and say, ‘There’s a lot of wires, there’s a lot of machinery, alarms will go off, don’t worry, it’s fine.’ Even though, deep down, it was terrifying.”
Many of the newborns inside these specialist hospital wards enter the world weighing less than 2.5kg, and in some extreme cases, less than a small bag of sugar. Every year, millions will require non-invasive ventilation (NIV) to aid their first breaths, and for many premature babies, the contrast between their small size and the standardised masks and nasal interfaces used – typically only available only in four universal sizes – is hard to ignore.
