The 3D printing technology has helped many patients all over the world. With this, the United States Military is looking into 3D printing technology to replace bones and limbs of injured soldiers using a 3D printed replica.

A team of experts from the University of Nevada created “virtual copies” of soldiers through the images generated from MRI, ultrasound and X-Ray. Although it may sound queer, Dr. James Mah a clinical professor from the University of Nevada noted that the virtual copies of the soldier’s body will serve as backup in case a soldier encounters injuries while in the battle field. This will also save doctors a lot of time in treating injured patients because they can just refer to the replica of the soldier in order to fashion customized 3D printed limbs.

According to Dr. Mah, the purpose of this program is to create data of soldiers in their healthy state so that they can easily get treatment later on. This program is still ongoing and the United States military plans to create a vast database for active military service men. Thus, if something bad happens to a particular soldier, doctor and surgeons in the field could exactly determine how the soldier’s body functioned prior to the injury. And since the information is found in a database, doctors can go to the internet and create a 3D printed replica of the soldier’s body. This technology looks very promising considering that there are many soldiers who go into war and come back with a missing piece in their lives – an arm or a leg. With this technology, doctors can give them second chances in their lives.