Medical applications of 3D printing are expanding rapidly and may revolutionize healthcare. Current uses include creating customized prosthetics and implants, anatomical models for surgery planning, and complex drug dosage forms through various printing techniques like selective laser sintering and inkjet printing. Researchers are working to develop organ printing through layer-by-layer deposition of living cells and biomaterials. While significant advances have been made, the most transformative applications like full organ printing will require more time and addressing remaining scientific and regulatory challenges.
2. Medical applications for 3D printing are expanding rapidly
and are expected to revolutionize health care .The application
of 3D printing in medicine can provide many benefits,
including:
Customization and personalization of medical products,
drugs, and equipment;
Cost effectiveness;
Increased productivity;
The democratization of design and manufacturing; and
Enhanced collaboration.
3. Medical uses for 3D printing, both actual and potential, can
be organized into several broad categories, such as:
Tissue and organ fabrication;
Creation of customized prosthetics, implants, and
anatomical models; and
Pharmaceutical research regarding drug dosage forms,
delivery, and discovery.
However, it should be cautioned that despite recent
significant and exciting medical advances
involving 3D printing, notable scientific and regulatory
challenges remain and the most transformative applications
for this technology will need time to evolve.
4.
5. 3D Printing is the reverse of traditional
machining where material is removed from a
block by drilling, cutting, chiselling, etc. for
making objects. In 3D Printing an object is
created by laying successive layers of materials
as per requirement. This process is also known
as additive manufacturing.
The process of printing 3D objects starts with
making a virtual design of the object you want to
create , using one of the supported computer
aided design(CAD) software.
6. A 3D scanner can also be used to copy an existing
object. The scanner makes a 3D digital copy of an
object and puts it into a 3D modelling program.
This 3D model file is sliced into thousands of
horizontal layers which are then printed by a 3D
printer, layer by layer, creating the entire 3D
object.
It is important to note that two dimensional (2D)
radiographic images, such as x rays, magnetic
resonance imaging (MRI), or computerized
tomography (CT) scans, can be converted to digital
3D print files, allowing the creation of complex,
customized anatomical and medical structures
7.
8. The type of 3D printer chosen for an
application often depends on the materials to
be used and how the layers in the finished
product are bonded.
The three most commonly used 3D printer
technologies in medical applications are:
Selective Laser Sintering (SLS),
Thermal Inkjet(TIJ) printing, and
Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM)
9. Selective Laser Sintering
An SLS printer uses powdered material as the
substrate for printing new objects. A laser
draws the shape of the object in the powder,
fusing it together.
10. Thermal inkjet Printing
Inkjet printing is a “noncontact” technique that
uses thermal, electromagnetic, or piezoelectric
technology to deposit tiny droplets of “ink” (actual
ink or other materials) onto a substrate according
to digital instructions.
11. Fused Deposition Modeling
An FDM printer uses a printhead similar to an
inkjet printer. However, instead of ink, beads
of heated plastic are released from the print
head as it moves, building the object in thin
layers.
12. A computer-aided bioadditive manufacturing
process has emerged to deposit living cells
together with hydrogel-based scaffolds for 3-D
tissue and organ fabrication.
It uses bioadditive manufacturing technologies,
including laser-based writing , inkjet-based
printing , and extrusion-based deposition .
Bioprinting offers great precision on spatial
placement of the cells themselves, rather than
providing scaffold support alone.
13. The figure below shows different Bioprinting techniques including
(a) laser-based writing of cells,
(b) inkjet-based systems, and
(c) extrusion-based deposition
14.
15. The current medical uses of 3D printing can be
organized into several broad categories:
tissue and organ fabrication;
creating prosthetics, implants, and
anatomical models; and
pharmaceutical research concerning drug
discovery, delivery, and dosage forms.
16. Organ printing takes advantage of 3D printing
technology to produce cells, biomaterials, and cell
laden biomaterials individually or in tandem, layer by
layer, directly creating 3D tissuelike structures.
Various materials are available to build the scaffolds,
depending on the desired strength, porosity, and type
of tissue, with hydrogels usually considered to be most
suitable for producing soft tissues.
Although 3D bioprinting systems can be laser based,
inkjet based, or extrusion based, Inkjet based
bioprinting is most common.
17. A process for bioprinting organs has emerged:
1) create a blueprint of an organ with its vascular
architecture;
2) generate a bioprinting process plan;
3) isolate stem cells;
4) differentiate the stem cells into organ specific cells;
5) prepare bioink reservoirs with organ specific cells,
blood vessel cells, and support medium and load them
into the printer;
6) bioprint; and
7) place the bioprinted organ in a bioreactor prior to
transplantation.
18. The precise placement of multiple cell types is required
to fabricate thick and complex organs, and for the
simultaneous construction of the integrated vascular or
microvascular system that is critical for these organs to
function.
Tissue spheroids for blood vessel printing: (a) Deposition of straight filaments
containing a string of tissue spheroids (stained in white) with agarose filaments
as support material (stained in blue) both around cellular filaments and inside
the core, (b) design for multicellular assembly with (c) printed samples with
human umbilical vein smooth muscle cells and human skin fibroblast cells
19.
20. Implants and prostheses can be made in
nearly any imaginable geometry through the
translation of xray, MRI, or CT scans into
digital .stl 3D print files.
In this way, 3D printing has been used
successfully in the health care sector to make
both standard and complex customized
prosthetic limbs and surgical implants,
sometimes within 24hours. This approach
has been used to fabricate dental, spinal, and
hip implants.
21. Scientists have created a revolutionary new electronic membrane that could replace
pacemakers, fitting over a heart to keep it beating regularly over an indefinite period of
time. The device uses a “spider-web-like network of sensors and electrodes” to
continuously monitor the heart’s electrical activity and could, in the future, deliver
electrical shocks to maintain a healthy heart-rate. Researchers used computer modelling
technology and a 3D-printer to create a prototype membrane and fit it to a rabbit’s heart,
keeping the organ operating perfectly “outside of the body in a nutrient and oxygen-rich
solution”.
22. The individual variances and complexities of the
human body make the use of 3Dprinted models
ideal for surgical preparation.
3Dprinted models can be useful beyond surgical
planning.
3D printed neuroanatomical models can be
particularly helpful to neurosurgeons by providing
a representation of some of the most complicated
structures in the human body.
Complex spinal deformities can also be studied
better through the use of a 3D model.
23. 3D printing technologies are already being used
in pharmaceutical research and fabrication, and
they promise to be transformative .
Advantages of 3D printing include precise
control of droplet size and dose, high
reproducibility, and the ability to produce dosage
forms with complex drug release profiles.
Complex drug manufacturing processes could
also be standardized through use of 3D printing
to make them simpler and more viable.
3D printing technology could be very important
in the development of personalized medicine,too.
24. The primary 3D printing technologies used for
pharmaceutical production are inkjet based or inkjet
powder based 3D printing.
In inkjet based drug fabrication, inkjet printers are
used to spray formulations of medications and binders
in small droplets at precise speeds, motions, and sizes
onto a substrate. The most commonly used substrates
include different types of cellulose, coated or uncoated
paper, microporous bioceramics, glass scaffolds, metal
alloys, and potato starch films, among others.
In powder based 3D printing, the inkjet printer head
sprays the “ink” onto the powder foundation. When the
ink contacts the powder, it hardens and creates a solid
dosage form, layer by layer. The ink can include active
ingredients as well as binders and other inactive
ingredients. After the 3D printed dosage form is dry,
the solid object is removed from the surrounding loose
powder substrate.
25. Personalized 3D printed drugs may particularly
benefit patients who are known to have a
pharmacogenetic polymorphism or who use
medications with narrow therapeutic indices.
Pharmacists could analyze a patient’s
pharmacogenetic profile, as well as other
characteristics such as age, race, or gender, to
determine an optimal medication dose.
A pharmacist could then print and dispense the
personalized medication via an automated 3D
printing system.
If necessary, the dose could be adjusted further
based on clinical response.
26. The manufacturing and distribution of drugs by
pharmaceutical companies could be replaced by
emailing databases of medication formulations to
pharmacies for on demand drug printing. This would
cause existing drug manufacturing and distribution
methods to change drastically and become more cost
effective.
The most advanced 3D printing application that is
anticipated is the bioprinting of complex organs. It
has been estimated that we are less than 20 years
from a fully functioning printable heart.
It may also be possible to print out a patient’s tissue
as a strip that can be used in tests to determine what
medication will be most effective.
27. In the future, it could even be possible to take
stem cells from a child’s baby teeth for lifelong
use as a tool kit for growing and developing
replacement tissues and organs.
In situ printing, in which implants or living organs
are printed in the human body during operations,
is another anticipated future trend. Through use of
3D bioprinting, cells, growth factors, and
biomaterial scaffolding can be deposited to repair
lesions of various types and thicknesses with
precise digital control.
Advancements in robotic bioprinters and robot
assisted surgery may also be integral to the
evolution of this technology.
28. 3D printing has become a useful and potentially
transformative tool in a number of different fields,
including medicine. As printer performance,
resolution, and available materials have increased, so
have the applications.
Researchers continue to improve existing medical
applications that use 3D printing technology and to
explore new ones.
The medical advances that have been made using 3D
printing are already significant and exciting, but
some of the more revolutionary applications, such as
organ printing, will need time to evolve.
29. C. Lee Ventola, MS , Medical Applications for 3D
Printing – Current and Projected Uses, P T. 2014 Oct;
39(10): 704–711. [PMC Free Article] [Pub Med]
Ibrahim T. Ozbolat and Yin Yu , Bioprinting Toward
Organ Fabrication: Challenges and Future Trends,
IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING,
VOL. 60, NO. 3, MARCH 2013.
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