3-D printer saves man stricken with cancer in spine from paralysis

Six-hour procedure is a world first for the length of vertebral bodies replaced by a 3-D printed implant

Doctors in Beijing have used 3-D printing to create a new spine for a local man after five cancer-riddled vertebrae were removed from his body. The procedure is a world first in terms of the length of vertebrae replaced this way, the doctors say.

On June 12 the man, surnamed Yuan, 40, of Beijing, underwent a surgery over six hours to have a 3-D printed implant of multiple thoracic and lumbar vertebral bodies, measuring 19 centimeters, inserted into his spine.