3D printing provides doctors and medical institutions with new solutions to plan treatments and to develop surgical guides, as well as implants and prosthetics. Furthermore, these new solutions increase treatment efficiency, which directly translates into significant economic cost savings. On the other hand, 3D printed implants and surgical guides are highly adaptable to individual requirements and thus increase patient-fit. For facial and limb prostheses, 3D printing has gained momentum during the past 10 years as well and is gradually being adopted as a common manufacturing method in regenerative medicine. Especially the field of patient-specific bone replacement implants experiences increasing popularity as first examples of successful recently performed treatments show. In 2014, for instance, a 71-year old lady received a 3D-printed hip joint which was integrated with her pelvis using stem cells and another woman was transplanted an entire skull cap manufactured in a 3D printer. Furthermore, the technology of actual bone regeneration is so stable that humans already receive such treatments. Next to implants, the potential of AM technologies for the production of orthoses, which are “externally applied devices used to modify the structural and functional characteristics of the neuromuscular and skeletal system”. To date the manufacturing of individualized orthoses is a complicated, multi-step procedure: impression-taking, model-building, model modification and manufacturing of the orthosis. Similar to the other examples in the healthcare sector, an automated and digitalized process using AM technology could simplify this process significantly.

http://www.e-fi.de/fileadmin/Innovationsstudien_2015/StuDIS_17_2015.pdf

According to Matt Clinch, companies specializing in 3-D printing will continue to produce stellar growth over the coming years. The size of the global market, including 3-D printer sales, materials and associated services, is predicted to reach $16.2 billion by 2018, according to independent research company Canalys. Its estimates show the sector stood at $2.5 billion globally in 2013 and will rise to $3.8 billion in 2014. And in five years the company believes the market will grow by over 500 percent with a year-over-year growth rate of 45.7 percent.

3-D printing - creating three-dimensional solid objects from digital models - is gathering momentum and is transforming everything from medicine to home goods. Printers that once cost $30,000 now are priced closer to $1,000 and have the potential to rewrite the rules of global manufacturing.

There has been a wide variety of forecasts on just how much this new industry can blossom. Boston-based advisory firm Lux Research has previously estimated that the overall market size in 2025 will be $8.4 billion, led by automotive, medical and aerospace applications.

Meanwhile, Colorado-based Wohlers Associates expects it to continue strong double-digit growth over the next several years, predicting last year that the industry would reach $10.8 billion by 2021.

The new manufacturing technique has also attracted significant backing on crowdfunding site Kickstarter with some of the top "most funded" projects on the website being 3D printing

Nonetheless, the space hasn't been without its fair share of hiccups. Stock analysts believe 3-D printing has become home to the "most hideous" stocks in the U.S stock markets, according to CNBC's Jim Cramer. Shares of both Stratasys and 3D Systems saw huge price spikes in the past 12 months, before witnessing steady declines in recent weeks.

But the underlying fundamentals look good, according to Canalys, even if some investors have been caught out by the momentum trade. Shepherd added that the "main barriers" to uptake are being addressed, such as faster print times and the ability of the printers to use different colors, finishes and materials.

"This is a fast-evolving market, but it is still in its infancy. Expect to see new major entrants making a significant impact in the industry in the coming years, including giants such as HP. 

Thank you,

Jorge, for providing a very good insight in the general market uptake and

Krishnan, for the intriguing examples of market uptake in bone replacement - patient specific hip joint and skull cap are really awesome! And for explaining the specific barriers when it comes to orthoses.

Your welcome Elisabeth!

I think that there are 3 factors that hinder the wide spread of this technology: 1) Cost. 2) The relatively few number of professionals who can operate, maintain, and repair. 3) The technology is relatively new & it just entered a market that was established in specific direction. However, the 3 mentioned factors are not hard to overcome & the near future will see more adoption of 3D colored printing.

There are issues that need to be overcome and these are summarized in this following article-

http://www.nature.com/nbt/journal/v32/n8/full/nbt.2958.html

All orthopaedic prostheses need to meet minimum standards with respect to composition, engineering and preferably have been studied in clinical trials. There is a history of devices which have not met acceptable standards once they were implanted into patients around the world. This was recently seen when the results of one particular prosthesis for hip joint replacement were inferior when compared to other available models. There was also the breast implant scandal which emanated out of France (the implants were not as robust as those from other companies).

Hence although the technology is extremely promising, there need to be standards and safeguards in place as the consequences are high for patients who receive an inferior product. You may be able to replace your 3-d printed running shoes if they do not last as long as expected, however it is a far more major undertaking to replace a faulty orthopaedic type of device once it has been surgically implanted.

Thank you, Nizar and Deborah, for your valuable perspectives.

I believe the main concern for the medical institutions is the materials that the current 3D Printers are capable to print with. The most common ones nowadays are ABS and PLA (there are a lot more, but still in testing procedures). I don't think it is a matter of precision, because they have arrived to a very high resolutions, neither a implementation cost since there are a huge competence and a lower prices are coming up day by day. 

So, supposing that the priority of the health care field should be the healthiness, still there are many other techniques and great materials that currently they are providing for this scope a good quality components and elements for their purposes. 

• 3D-PRINTING MULTI-MATERIAL (MIP-SL) GETS FASTER THAN EVER - faster 3D printing process that allows for 3D-printing multi-material objects in minutes instead of hours
• Mask-Image-Projection-based Stereolithography - Layer-based additive manufacturing (AM) is a collection of techniques for manufacturing solid objects by sequential delivery of energy and/or material to specified points in space to produce that solid. Product components can have material designs with desired mechanical properties, e.g. both soft and hard materials can be embedded in products such as tooth brushes and remote controllers. Such fabrication capability also opens up exciting new options that were previously impossible.
• Computer Numerically Controlled-Accumulation - Most current additive manufacturing (AM) processes are layer based and contain several drawbacks. For example, parts can only be printed with a range of motion limited to the X, Y, and Z axes. Therefore, Computer Numerically Controlled Accumulation (CNC-A) is created as an additive manufacturing method that does not print layer by layer. 
• Selective Inhibition Sintering (SIS) is an additive manufacturing (AM) technology in which parts are built layer-by-layer from a powder base material. The core idea of the SIS process is the prevention of selected areas of powder layers from sintering. SIS may be considered a contrary approach to the Selective Laser Sintering (SLS) process in which selected areas of powder are sintered by a fine laser beam. SIS takes advantage of bulk sintering in the body of the part, while inhibiting sintering at the part boundaries.

http://www.craft-usc.com/technologies/cnc-a/

I fully agree with the answer Jorge Morales.