Emerging Technology Paper: 3D Printing in Medicine Analysis

This paper delves into the realm of 3D printing in medicine, offering a comprehensive technology review that highlights its applications, dependencies, and limitations, with a focus on its evolution from dental implants to organ replacement and surgical tools. The report then analyzes the ethical dilemmas associated with this technology, including issues of access, safety, and human enhancement, identifying policy gaps and ethical ambiguities. Furthermore, it examines the cybersecurity challenges that arise from the use of 3D printers in healthcare, particularly concerning data confidentiality, privacy, and product integrity. The paper acknowledges the need for further research and modification to optimize the technology's functionality and address its limitations, such as the inability to perform specific functions at a cellular level, and the impact of digital file corruption and network breaches on patient treatment.

Running head: INFORMATION TECHNIOLOGY ETHICS
INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY ETHICS
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Table of Contents
Technology Review.........................................................................................................................2
Cyberethical Dilemma.....................................................................................................................3
Cybersecurity Challenges................................................................................................................4
References........................................................................................................................................5

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Technology Review
The concept of printing took a huge turn when 3D printing came into existence. From
then onwards 3D printers are being used in various sectors such as construction, Prototyping,
Firearms etc. Even the medical field is also influenced with printing in three dimensions. The
first use of a 3D printer in the medical purposes took place in the year 1988 and was sold by the
inventor, Charles Hull at a price of $100,000 (Pucci et al., 2017). In the initial stages the 3D
printer is used to make dental implants and custom prosthetics. Later with time, usage of 3D
printer is used regarding various medical purposes. The recent use of a 3D printer has been
concentrated into four major sectors within the medical purposes. The first among them is to
replace the implantation of organs with this technology followed by the speeding up of the
surgical procedures. Other two areas are construction of surgical tools at a cheaper way and
finally to improve the lives of them who have to rely on prosthetic limbs.
The printing is done using the technique of bio-printing This technique uses a computer
guided system that makes a pipette over the living cells on top of another for the creation of
artificial tissue in laboratory. This is done in the expectation of making artificial organs that
could replace the traditional organ replacement. Other than that, there are models that are build
using this technology. Though the technology is promising, there are several dependencies that
have to be considered. Age, sex, other physiological factors, chemical properties within the
systems in human body etc. are some of them (Pantelic et al., 2019).
The technology is promising but there are limitations that have to researched and
modified to serve its purpose to the best. The primary limitation that is restricting its flow of

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implementation is that the imagery available is unable to perform the specific functions at a
cellular level. This consequence of this limitation is raising other limitations in the process.
Cyberethical Dilemma
There are certain ethical dilemmas that are associated with the usage of this technology in
the medical field. Being an emerging technology, all of the grounds have to be investigated
properly in order to have a successful implementation of the technology in the desired field. The
ethical issues that are associated with the use of 3D printer in medical field are as follows:
1. Access: The first and the foremost thing that comes into everyone’s mind is the costing
that will be required to access the services. The technology of 3D printer needs adequate
financial resources to get it implemented in the medical science. Hence, this costing will
surely reflect in the pockets of the patients. There will be a discrimination based on the
financial resources that patient will be having (Patuzzi et al., 2018).
2. Safety: It is mandatory to know that how safe will be the usage of 3D printer in the
treatment of the patient. The primary question that arises in between is that whether the
treatment will be as effective as like the traditional way. Proper testing of the instruments
has to be done in order to make them use for the actual treatment (Christensen & Rybicki,
2017).
3. Human Enhancement: The third ethical issue that comes into existence is that whether
humans should go for this technology for the treatment. The main constraint that will
remain within is that if the technology can be used to articulate the body parts and organs
of a human body then it is not assured that this technology will not be used for

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articulating devices that will be capable beyond the human capabilities (Zhou et al.,
2016).
Cybersecurity Challenges
The cybersecurity issues of the usage of 3D printer in medical field originate due to the
presence of an internet connectivity and open-sourced features in such devices. The issues that
originates are mainly of confidentiality and privacy oriented. Sometimes the issues are concerned
with the integrity issues of the product (Ricles et al., 2018). One of the biggest issues that is
concerned with the confidentiality and privacy aspects is that there could be a breaching into the
network of the device and the data that is stored in the device may get into bad hands. There
could be the personal information that could be breached which would surely violate the privacy
concerns. Another concern that will be a bigger threat to the treatment of the patient is that if the
digital file in the device is corrupted. As a product integrity issue, this could bring much more
hazardous effect in the overall treatment of the patient. The physical product that will be
generated will not function properly. As a result the functionality that it is supposed to perform
will be a failure but in exchange of a huge amount of money.

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References
Christensen, A., & Rybicki, F. J. (2017). Maintaining safety and efficacy for 3D printing in
medicine. 3D Printing in Medicine, 3(1), 1.
Pantelic, M., Pantelic, M., Pietila, T., Rollet, M., Myers, E., Song, T., ... & Wang, D. D. (2019).
Using 3D-Printed Models to Advance Clinical Care. Cardiovascular Innovations and
Applications, 4(1), 53-61.
Patuzzo, S., Goracci, G., Gasperini, L., & Ciliberti, R. (2018). 3D bioprinting technology:
scientific aspects and ethical issues. Science and engineering ethics, 24(2), 335-348.
Pucci, J. U., Christophe, B. R., Sisti, J. A., & Connolly Jr, E. S. (2017). Three-dimensional
printing: technologies, applications, and limitations in neurosurgery. Biotechnology
Advances, 35(5), 521-529.
Ricles, L. M., Coburn, J. C., Di Prima, M., & Oh, S. S. (2018). Regulating 3D-printed medical
products. Science translational medicine, 10(461), eaan6521.
Zhou, X., Castro, N. J., Zhu, W., Cui, H., Aliabouzar, M., Sarkar, K., & Zhang, L. G. (2016).
Improved human bone marrow mesenchymal stem cell osteogenesis in 3D bioprinted
tissue scaffolds with low intensity pulsed ultrasound stimulation. Scientific reports, 6,
32876.