9781422284810

Kaiba was happy and breathing easily just days after engineers came up with a creative solution.

He was in the hospital, attached to a ventilator to help him breathe. He did not have much time. “Printing” a splint takes longer than printing a picture, but within a day, the printer had created the splint that Kaiba would need. It had small ridges on the side, which would help it keep its shape. It looked like a hose for a vacuum cleaner—but much tinier! It was only a few centimeters long and only eight millimeters wide (about a third of an inch). Scott Hollister did not want to take any chances, though. What if the splint turned out to be the wrong size? What if some- one dropped it on the floor during the surgery? To be on the safe side, he printed up several different versions of the splint. Doctors inserted the splint, and everyone watched anxiously. The results were immediate. Kaiba started breathing on his own!

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