--- title: Doctors Used Lab-Printed Splint to Save 3 Babies From Suffocation description: The fairly inexpensive procedure could save countless young lives, medical officials say canonical: https://time.com/3840672/4d-printed-splint-babies-suffocation/ author: NBC News article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-04-29T19:20:44.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T06:47:48.871Z article:section: Health og:title: Doctors Used Lab-Printed Splint to Save 3 Babies From Suffocation og:description: The fairly inexpensive procedure could save countless young lives og:url: https://time.com/3840672/4d-printed-splint-babies-suffocation/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6dadb05b6a2e3c69/6987ed8c3c16396892455c52/trachea.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Human lungs, illustration og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Doctors Used Lab-Printed Splint to Save 3 Babies From Suffocation twitter:description: The fairly inexpensive procedure could save countless young lives twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6dadb05b6a2e3c69/6987ed8c3c16396892455c52/trachea.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Doctors Used Lab-Printed Splint to Save 3 Babies From Suffocation by [NBC News](https://time.com/author/nbc-news/) ## NBC News Apr 29, 2015 7:20 PM UTC  Human lungs, illustration Human lungs, illustrationGetty Images by [NBC News](https://time.com/author/nbc-news/) ## NBC News Apr 29, 2015 7:20 PM UTC Three small children with weak airways that were constantly collapsing are alive and well thanks to a “4-D” printed splint that saved them from almost certain suffocation. Three years after the splints were custom made and attached to their tracheas, the children are able to breathe on their own, a team of doctors reported on Wednesday. The splints are not only precisely fitted to the children, but they’re made to grow as the children grow. (That’s the fourth dimension, the researchers say.) Now they want to try their method in kids who are not so close to death, to see… [Read the rest of the story from our partners at NBC News](http://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/doctors-print-4-d-airway-save-three-babies-n350411?cid=par-time-article%5F20141002) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3840672/4d-printed-splint-babies-suffocation/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3840672/4d-printed-splint-babies-suffocation/"},"headline":"Doctors Used Lab-Printed Splint to Save 3 Babies From Suffocation","datePublished":"2015-04-29T19:20:44.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T06:47:48.871Z","description":"The fairly inexpensive procedure could save countless young lives, medical officials say","url":"https://time.com/3840672/4d-printed-splint-babies-suffocation/","keywords":["medicine","Healthcare"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6dadb05b6a2e3c69/6987ed8c3c16396892455c52/trachea.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"NBC News","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/nbc-news/"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6dadb05b6a2e3c69/6987ed8c3c16396892455c52/trachea.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Human lungs, illustration","caption":"Human lungs, illustration","creditText":"Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/health/","name":"Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/medicine/","name":"medicine"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3840672/4d-printed-splint-babies-suffocation/","name":"Doctors Used Lab-Printed Splint to Save 3 Babies From Suffocation"}}]}] ```