3D printing in Neurosurgery

As well known, from a scientific point of view, the product of 3D printing is the result of the perfect superimposition of layers of condensed polymers of various nature that aggregate to form true solid matter. The previously created computer model is accomplished in accordance with the 3D of the real world. The materials produced may be of different nature (i.e., cardboard, plastic materials, wood, metal) according to the production standards. Because of the big variety of materials and technologies that occur within the concept of 3D printing, this innovation is receiving a huge success, but is defying a simple definition. 3D printing is promising something as big as a new industrial revolution. If computers and the web had allowed the “dematerialization” and the subsequent widespread diffusion of knowledge, the 3D printers allow the “materialization” of innovative ideas with potentially huge economic, social, and political consequences. Furthermore, new products can be now prototyped and built out, using this technology, in a very short time and, through self-funding, paving the way to a “democratization” of innovation