Rebuilt Body Parts: Technology Puts a New Face On Disease and Disability

Soldiers returning from the conflict in Iraq, accident victims, cancer patients, or those with muscle-wasting diseases often end up with grossly misshapen bodies for which there is no off-the-shelf prosthetic. For these individuals, obtaining reconstructed, rebuilt body parts is as essential to treatment as addressing core activities of daily living. Yet even today, there’s no such thing as a spare cranium or jawbone.