This doctor put a 3D printed skull bone into a man's head. It could mark a new era.

Dr. Gaurav Gupta decided the best solution to replace the missing skull bone was to use 3D printing. Dr. Gaurav Gupta successfully inserted a 3D printed skull bone into his patient, Christopher Cahill. Only a decade ago, the idea of printing parts of the human body through 3D printing was still in the realm of science fiction, according to Dr. Gaurav Gupta, assistant professor of neurosurgery at Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School. But on March 28, he successfully inserted a 3D printed skull implant into patient Christopher Cahill, of New Brunswick, during a four-hour surgery. Cahill suffered an injury to the frontal lobe in early 2017 that resulted in life-threatening brain swelling.