Doctors are using 3D printing to make doggie surgery possible. The 3D printed bones on the left in the image above are an exact replica of an injured vertebrae of Sophi, a 7 yea old Yorkshire terrier.

The bones slipped, and it pinched Sophi's spinal cord. To fix this with metal plates might be hard, since it might hit delicate nerves. There's just too much room for error.

To workaround this, doctors Don Sorionen and Adrien-Maxence Hespel printed a precise model of her vertebrae to help them plan how to mend her injury.

The practice model gave the doctors confidence to know just what to expect from the procedure. "I don't think we could have done this without the 3D model, honestly," Dr. Sorjonen said.

What can't 3D printing do for medicine these days?

Last month, surgeons in the UK made facial bones for a badly injured cyclist, printing titanium implants and guides and practicing the delicate procedure with virtual modeling.

Doctors in Japan, this year, used a 3D printed model to determine how to fit an adult's donated liver into a small child recipient. And at the University of Florida, models printed from MRI and CT scans give neurosurgeons a realistic way to practice delicate brain surgery.

Seriously. It's no longer just for making The Hobbit souvenirs.  [MakerBot via MedicalXpress]