The new life of Derby, a dog with prostheses made with a 3D printer

The development of 3D printers is allowing very important advances in the field of medicine. Initially, this technology was used to create parts perfectly adapted to the body of each individual, using plastic materials. Medicine is already going further and organs are beginning to be created with biological materials in order to temporarily or permanently replace parts of the body.

Custom prostheses created with 3D printers have been used in humans, but this time the beneficiary has been Derby, a dog. It is an adopted dog, with a birth deformity on its front legs.

The adaptation of the prostheses are perfect, since the “mold” is obtained from Computerized Tomography of the dog’s limbs. The first prostheses used have been of low height so that it can be adapted to them to, in the future, make the definitive ones.