3D printed prototype could make surgical stitching safer

A 3D printed prototype which aims to make suturing - the surgical term for stitches - easier, more consistent and safer is being researched and tested at the Royal Brompton Hospital in London.

Product developer of the Sutrue, Alex Berry, told BBC Click's Lara Lewington that it would have cost millions to have created all the design stages using traditional manufacturing, but using 3D printing allowed them to keep the cost to around £30,000 ($45,000).

Mr Berry said the final product will not be 3D printed: "At a certain point you have to move away from 3D printing when you are looking at mass manufacturing, when you are looking at plastics and moulding," he explained, "but you can take a development with 3D printing very much nearly to the end."

More at BBC.com/Click and @BBCClick.