Body parts printed in a lab in a matter of days - it sounds like science fiction, but it's the next frontier in biomedical engineering.

Fixing holes in the head is just the beginning, according to a team of Sydney researchers who have pioneered a method to produce bone replacements using 3D printing.

In a major breakthrough for victims of head trauma, the University of Sydney team has used 3D printing to produce highly accurate skull implants.

The lead researcher, biomedical engineer Dr Philip Boughton, said the new method was successfully trialled on several patients with severe head trauma.

Dr Boughton said victims of head trauma often needed to have part of their skull replaced.

"It can be anything from motor bike accidents through to - [as] one of our first patients was - someone who unfortunately walked into a propeller," Dr Boughton said.

"So it's very difficult to salvage skull bone, particularly when the trauma injury is so severe."

Dr Boughton said the method involved using a patient's radiology scans to produce a precise template of the missing piece of skull.

It was then moulded with a material called bone cement, readily used by surgeons in Australian hospitals.

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The biomedical engineers worked to develop the method with Dr James Van Gelder, lead neurosurgeon at Sydney's Liverpool Hospital.

Dr Boughton said the template was produced in a sterile environment and was made available to a patient in a matter of days.

Current manufacturing methods of skull bone templates can take weeks.

"We're helping to address what can often be an emergency situation as close to the day when the patient comes in as possible," Dr Boughton said.

"Implants are going to be - starting to be - patient specific."

University of Sydney PhD student Jeremy Kwarcinski said he was excited to be involved in the project.

"We've treated patients with injuries from sizes of about a twenty cent piece to missing about 40 per cent of the skull," Mr Kwarcinski said.

He said the cranioplasty implants were a "feasibility examination" and now the researchers would see if the technology could be applied to other parts of the body.

"The potential exists well beyond just the skull and noses and cheek implants - potentially in the future collar bones and other aspects of the body are quite feasible," Mr Kwarcinski said.

The researchers said their new 3D printing method was significantly cheaper than current bone-implant manufacturing processes - costing $300 instead of upwards of $5,000.