A group of researchers from Alfred State College, one of eight Colleges of Technology within the State University of New York (SUNY) system used 3D printing and SOLIDWORKS modeling to develop a novel, imprinted micro check valve for Intravenous Transfusions. Using a Form 2 3D Printer, they were able to print the parts modeled at SOLIDWORKS, which included Ball, Valve Inlet and Perforated Ring Outlet which was then coated with thin layer of parylene for safety in humans. The tests showed that the check valve design allowed for zero backward flow while also allowing flow through the device in the proper direction at a rate of 98.6 μl/sec

Giza Systems recognized the project called Project Nitrous inspired by the work of Mohamed El-Hossary and Ahmed Mohsen, whose aim was to support and boost the work being done for people with disabilities (PwDs). Project Nitrous is extending its work into four main tracks: Creating assistive devices, Giving people with disabilities the technical knowledge to design their own tools, Creating a startup extension of the project run by people with disabilities and Providing a blueprint for others who want to start similar businesses and creating an open-source community where designs and tools are accessible to all. Project Nitrous was officially born in February 2018, and has helped 23 people so far, with 18 additional projects currently in progress.

Researchers’ team from Louisiana State University led by Wayne Newhauser, director of the medical physics program at LSU, is working towards creating better Phantoms—models used as patient dummies when figuring out treatments and dosages. Using these dummies, the research team plans to carry out multiple trials of treatment for Cancer using Radiation therapy to kill neoplastic cancer cells in human bodies. These 3D Printed Phantoms are relatively cheaper method and quicker means to accessing information against Cancer.

Halifax resident Jacob Boudreau, who works for a logistics company, was inspired to open his own non-profit e-NABLE chapter, called Kindness3D. After legalization of marijuana in Canada, he stood for the waste management by recycling plastic waste from what he refers to as the “excessive cannabis packaging conundrum” of the NSLC (Nova Scotia Liquor Corporation), the province’s legal cannabis distributor. Using Kindness3D modified a paper shredder at Boudreau’s Dalhousie University Sexton Campus operation, recycled plastic was converted into 3D Printed Prosthetics for children. Additionally, he started a petition in hopes of convincing the NSLC to collect and donate all of its used cannabis packaging to Kindness3D.

Source: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/cannabis-packaging-3d-printer-prosthetic-limbs-1.4878440

7-year-old, Isaiah Onassis Goberdhan was diagnosed with an aggressive tumor in his palate and nasal cavity that caused him breathing difficulties. Using Formlabs Technology, Neha A. Patel, MD, a Northwell pediatric otolaryngologist at Cohen Children’s Medical Center, was able to plan the surgery with 3D Printed anatomical model of Goberdhan using CT and MRI scans. Onassis Goberdhan has now successfully recovered without complications after the surgery planned with 3D Printing.

CollPlant and United Therapeutics Corporation have recently announced their licensing, development, and commercialization agreement for 3D Bioprinted Lung Transplants. Combining United Therapeutics’ organ manufacturing and regenerative medicine capabilities through Lung Biotechnology PBC with CollPlant’s BioInk and proprietary recombinant human collagen (rhCollagen) technology, CollPlant will receive an initial upfront payment of $5 million to kick start the project.

To meet the requirements of a perfect stent like induction of rapid endothelialization to restore the functions of vascular tissue and compliance with medical requirements, particularly the flexibility required to facilitate placement, researchers approached 3D Printing these Stents with PLA and PCL composites. Using Tubular 3D Printer, they 3D Printed the stents which were then seeded with cells and left for three days, and then tests were performed to assess the morphological features, cell proliferation, cell adhesion, degradation rate and radial behavior. Both PCL and PLA showed themselves to be biocompatible, and the composite stents showed the most promise, with medium levels of degradation rates and mechanical modulus.

Kai von Petersdorff-Campen, a doctoral student in the mechanical and process engineering department at ETH Zurich, revealed his prototype of Magnet-Plastic Heart made through 3D Printing which took him 15 hears. The method, so called embedded magnet printing, involved 3D printing the magnets directly in the plasti and making processing them into filament strands, before they are 3D printed using FDM technology. The prototype of 3D printed heart pump was able to successfully pump 2.5 liters per minute with 1,000 rotations, but still needs to meet the required standards.

Dr. Les Kalman at Western University’s Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry has developed a dental implant abutment system called the Tempcap in collaboration with ADEISS, a 3D Printing Company dedicated to medical and dental 3D printing solutions. Using Renishaw 3D printers,  ADEISS worked on designing and 3D printing a version of the dental device in dental-grade titanium for testing, which was proved to increase the provisional crown quality and reduce the time required to fabricate the provisional crown for mandibular implant sites.

A group of researchers from the University of Sussex are working towards Drug Delivery Systems by combining FDM technology with Hot-Melt Extrusion (HME) which involves blending of Active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) with a thermoplastic polymer, and extrusion as filaments. Through pairing of HME with FDM technology, the researchers can help increase the range of usable FDM polymers and improve the usability of FDM 3D printers across many industries. HME, which does not require the use of a solvent, can be used to make drugs with a less bitter taste, while also lowering production times and increasing process efficiency.

Researchers from MIT and Draper University have developed a 3D Printed Microfluidic Device called Tumor Analysis Platform or TAP that simulates cancer treatments on biopsied cancerous tissue. 3D Printable in about an hour, the Chip device uses the biopsied tumor fragments placement in a chamber connected to a network of deliver fluids to the tissue and contains a new type of biocompatible resin, Pro3dure GR-10 Resin, that can support the long-term survival of biopsied tissue. The TAP is cheap and easy to fabricate and adaptable for clinical use.

Ramiah Martin, Susquehanna Valley, PA, was born with a rare medical condition called the Tracheal Agenesis, which left her without trachea and improperly formed esophagus. The doctors at Penn State Hershey Children’s Hospital used 3D Printing Technology to create a 3D Print Model of her esophageal passage and plan the surgeries ahead of time when she was 4 months old. Although she may require further interventions in future, the kid has been discharged with ventilator support at age of 13 months.

Allevi, a Bioprinter Company launched in 2014 has been famous for bioprinters such as Allevi One to Allevi 6, but they are also selling the Ink Kits usable with their printers, aiming at binding customers, getting revenue and building stronger relationship with their customers. After the FRESH Kit, they have launched Coaxial Extrusion Kit, which can create perfusable microchannels with hydrogels and cast endothelial microchannels, thus extending their use in all sorts of tissue types from Cartilage, Skeletal muscle, hearts and tumors.

Biodonostia Health Research Institute, a medical research institute in Basque, Spain, recently partnered with Tecnun, a specialist division of the Universidad de Navarra, and Tknika, a regional Research and Applied Innovation Center for Vocational Education and training, in order to help its surgeons harness FDM 3D printing technology from Stratasys to help in surgical preparation and planning. With the help from partnership, the surgical teams can receive highly accurate 3D printed medical models, made with Stratasys’ FDM technology, within 24 hours which can help patient care by reducing the amount of time patients spend in surgery, especially surgeries for complex thoracic wall tumors.

The Institute for Technology-Inspired Regenerative Medicine (MERLN) at Maastricht University, Netherlands, have announced their partnership with Aspect Biosystems, a tissue engineering and 3D bioprinting company. Through this collaboration, RX1 Bioprinting Platform by Aspect will be placed inside Professor Lorenzo Moroni’s Lab at the university, which then will be used by Dr. Carlos Mota to work towards 3D Printed Kidney Tissue. There, Dr. Carlos Mota, the head of bioprinting research, will put it to good use developing 3D bioprinted kidney tissue.

A group of Portugese Researchers are working towards 4D Bioprinting in Regenerative medicine and ultimately pave the path for bioprinting human tissues for medical uses. With 3D Printing enhanced with 4^th dimension, the researchers point out the potential to have greater control over size, shape and interconnectivity. Through 4D Bioprinting, researchers will be able to morph bioinks into viable cells and tissues without the boundaries of nature, however, this is yet to be explored in terms of temperature, peripheral chemicals, stress and UV light exposure, and ofcourse, the nature itself.

Kijenzi, a tech startup with co-founders John K. Gershenson, Benjamin Savonen and students, was born out of Penn State Humanitarian Engineering and Social Entrepreneurship program (HESE), and their recent objective was to provide 3D printers to clinics in more distant areas of Kenya. To further the cause, they worked on CAD files that can be accessed by the medical teams at Kenyan clinics to fabricate their own 3d printed equipments. Their new system of 3D Printing and Medical Supply Chain has won them the second place in IdeaMakers Challenge also.

UK researchers, I. Brewis and J.A. McLaughlin, at Northumbria University unveiled their new research that combines astrophysics with 3D Imaging and Printing in cardiovascular health care. Using the astrophysics in creating new image-processing techniques for viewing the human heart, transferring the data to an .stl file and then 3D printing a medical model, they finally produced a precise 3D model of a patient’s heart with Aortic Aneurysm using Netfabb and SLA 3D Printer.

A research conducted at The Second Affiliated Hospital and Yuying Children’s Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University in Zhejiang, China, provides insights to the use of 3D Printing in medical field. 48 patients suffering from distal radius fractures (one of the most common type of upper body injuries) participated in the study, with a 3D model made of each break using CT scans and Mimics software before being 3D Printed in PLA. The research concluded the advantage with more accurate diagnosis and surgery, faster procedure time, less blood loss in patients, and frequency of intraoperative fluoroscopy.

Argentina’s 3D Printing Community recently received first Stratasys J750 in December 2018 at the Technological Institute of Buenos Aires (ITBA) University, of which 8 3D Printers can be accessed by students and faculty any day of week in facility. The Stratasys J750 PolyJet 3D printer is designed to carry out surgical simulations, medical preparations, surgical guides and development of final products for industrial use. The university also aims to direct their innovative student’s minds towards building prototypes for some of the famous companies like Techint.

3DHEALS is an organization, founded by CEO Jenny Chen, aims at building a global platform for people to learn and collaborate on healthcare 3D printing and bioprinting, and related technologies through events around the globe. The event involved local speakers like Adam Jakus, Co-founder of Dimension Inx, Steven Morris, CEO of BIOLIFE4D, Stephen Anderson from Renishaw and Alejandro Espinoza from Rush; who gave 10 minute summaries of their work for an audience of additive manufacturing professionals in Chicago.

Researchers at Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH) are working on improving the Rhinoplasty, a surgery of nose resconstruction, with the help of 3D Printing. Using the facial editing software to plan the surgery, and then converiting it to files for modeling and 3D Printing, followed by filling of hydrogel with patient’s cells and injecting into 3D Printed nasal implant. This whole process offers advantages such as shorter, comfortable and streamlined procedure with much accuracy in hand.

Researchers from the Barrow Neurological Institute in Phoenix, Arizona studied the five models for use in training with simulation of both Freehand and Percutaneous Pedicle Screw Placement, with all models evaluated and then scored by junior and senior residential spine surgeons. All 3D Printed Barrow Biomimetic Spine model were created with Meshmixer software, imported back into Simplify3D software, and then 3D printed on a FlashForge Creator Pro with an affordable cost of $50-$70.

Joseph Michael was attacked in his home in 2013 leaving him with damage to eye socket and causing double vision. The Surgeons from UC Davis Medical Center, California, used CT scans of his left eye and converted the data into 3D Data, which was then used to 3D Print the exact replica for his right eye using Desktop Printer Ultimaker 3 Extended. The mirroring of left eye for re-building the right one, along with reconstructing the orbit and cheekbone was one of the finest process they UC Davis Doctors achieved.

Researchers at the Istituto Orthopedico in Rizzoli, Bologna made an attempt to improve on current methods for making tissue repairs and replacement by creating 3D Printed Meniscus Prototype. Using the real MRI Scans and converting them to .stl file, then proceeding to create a model from which to make the meniscus prototype and resulting scaffolds. The researchers used the 3D printed model of the knee to assist in reconstruction of the meniscus. They used a series of 2D cross sections to create tool paths, using LifeInk 200 bio-ink as the material for printing cells, and then 3D Printing the final product of Meniscus Prototype.

Researchers from University of Sydney, including Kamarul Amin Abdullah, performed a three-tiered study that included: 3D printing a cardiac insert phantom created from volumetric CT image datasets, investigating the 3D printed phantom in evaluation an IR algorithm and evaluating optimal IR algorithm strengths for low-tube voltage CCTA protocols. They came up with the Lungman anthropomorphic chest phantom which is equipped with a phantom that mimics the heart, and the insert was created on a Creatbot DM Plus 3D printer. They also discovered that 3D printing was suitable for dose optimization studies, allowing for investigation of IR algorithm on dose reduction.

A team from the Research Center for Nano-Biomaterials at Sichuan University worked on four groups of scaffolds, namely: PCL, PCL/PVAc, PCL/HA and PCL/PVAc/HA. By 3D Printing them on 3D Bioprinter V2.0 (manufactured by Hangzhou Regenovo Biotechnology Co., Ltd, China), they revealed that although they had almost similar porosity, the mechanical properties were different. PCL/PVAc/HA scaffold was selected the winner with more favorable characteristics during in vitro cell culture experiment and in vivo bone formation.

A Team led by Professor Yoon Jin-sook from Severance Hospital, South Korea worked on 3D Printing Custom Eye Prosthetics on a large scale by solving the production cost and time. Following the scan of patient’s eye and conversion of data into STL file, the Eye were 3D Printed using Carima DS131 and Biocompatible Photopolymer Resin (FotoTec DLP.A, Dreve Inc.). To give them much realistic look, the Sublimation Transfer Technique was used to print the image of the iris and blood vessels on the 3D-printed ocular prosthesis.

A team from Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine (WFIRM) has successfully developed Mobile Skin Bioprinting System that provides rapid on-site management of full-thickness wounds using 3D Printing, however waiting human trials. It consists of a hand-held 3D scanner and a printing head with an XYZ movement system containing eight 260 µm diameter nozzles, each driven by an independent dispensing motor with a ZScanner Z700 scanner. It 3D prints directly on the wound a double layered skin substitute consisting dermal fibroblasts and epidermal keratinocytes cells that exactly match the patient’s wound.

The University of Gdansk, Poland, has ventured into era of 3D Printing and launched "3D Printing in Medicine", a medical course, first of its kind. Led by Paediatricians, and supplied by Zortrax, it aims to provide theoretical as well as practical scenarios to the students to further discover creating and utilizing 3D Printing Models for Medicine.

Two volunteers, Cristian Fracassi and Alessandro Romaioli, from Italy, used 3D Printing to create replicas of medical valves used in life-saving treatment of Corona Virus. However, the company with original patent denied them the files for creating them, but they also didn't sue them for creating illegal copies of their device. The Medical valves costing 10,000-11,000 USD, was created for as low as 1 USD and distributed in hospitals in Italy facing severe shortage of them.

US Researchers recently used 3D Printing to create Phantoms for training Radiologists to diagnose Breast cancer using Core Needle Biopy, the major diagnostic method available. While the usual phantoms for training cost around 350-450 USD, the 3D Printed Phantoms cost less and were much efficient in terms of acceptable US beam penetration and material hardness for simulation of human breast tissue integrity. The three breast phantom models were printed in multiple resins available through Stratasys, including VeroClear, TangoPlus and Tissue Matrix.

Molybdenum or Mo-99 decays into technetium-99m, which is then used to detect bone decay, heart disease, and rare cancers,but costs roughly $1,000 per gram. A team of Researchers from DOE’s Argonne National Laboratory have successfully developed the recylcing process of Molybdenum using 3D printed acrylic contactors. To counteract the corrosion of contractors by acids used in recycling process, they turned to polyetheretherketone, or PEEK, which is more durable than the original acrylic plastic they were using, and also resists the Argonne recycling method’s organic solvents and mineral acids.

Zortrax recently launched two brand new Resins for its latest Inkspire 3D Printing Platform for dental and prosthetic applications. Raydent Crown & Bridge is class IIa biocompatible, lasts 30 days, is safe for human contact and can boasts high abrasion resistance guaranteeing permanent smooth surfaces and anatomical shape for the duration of its usage. Another product involved Raydent Surgical Guide, Class I biocompatibility, which is safe for transient contact with human tissue, translucent to enhance visibility, features high dimensional accuracy to enable correct placement of implants or guidance for tools, and low viscosity and water resistance to make the guides easy to wash.

35 Patients participated in a jont study for Dentures and received 3D Printed Dentures made from a composite material, poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA)–nanoTiO2. Researchers from Turkey and Romania then studied the quality and outcomes of the dentures using questionnaires for the participants that involved 49 questions in total regarding the usability and efficiency of these compared to usual dentures. The dentures were created on an EnvisionTEC Perfactory 3D printer, featuring a layer thickness from 25μm to 150μm. Patients noted ‘significant improvement’ related to their oral health as the dentures provided good retention and stability.

Align Technology, a leading Orthodontic Company using 3D Printing has made a recent announcement with press release stating they will now acquire Global Dental CAD/CAM software firm, Exocad.  The two companies have signed a cash deal for the purchase of the privately held company for around 376 million Euro which is expected to close during the second quarter of 2020. The two companies see it as an opportunity to expand the orthodontic market  for doctors by integrating clear aligner orthodontics and restorative treatment with flexible, reliable, and easy-to-use CAD/CAM software and digital workflows.

During the LMT Lab Day Event held at Chicago, New York, Arfona made some huge announcements regarding their upcoming updates. Arfona is a New York-based dental tech startup, which was founded in 2016 by several 3D printing enthusiasts and dental technicians, and specializes in thermoplastic 3D printed dental prosthetics. After the 3D printed flexible partial denture, they have now come up with new FILAdent material – a thermoplastic PMMA filament that can be used to 3D print denture teeth when combined with Valplast’s partial dentures. PMMA, or poly(methyl methacrylate), is inert, biocompatible, and easy to obtain, and has been used to make cranial implants previously.

Prodways, a firm developed in partnership with 3Shape, Full Contour, Imes-Icore and Dreve, announced its own Ecosystem at LMT Lab Day 2020 held in Chicago. The Ecosystem aims at manufacturing upto 1200 Dental Aligners per day. The company also owns MOVINGLight DLP, ideal for batch production of products like dental molds for aligners and also acquired SolidScape recently. It will, however, face a competition against companies like HP, which claim to produce 50,000 Aligners per day via Smile Direct Club.

3D Systems, headquartered in Rock Hill, South Carolina, is a company that engineers, manufactures and sells 3D printers and is one of the leaders in field of 3D Printing. Recently at LMT Lab Day at Chicago, they announced a software workflow for 3D printing up to 30 orthodontic models in a single print using its NexDent 5100 3D printer, NextDent Model 2.0 Software, and 3D Sprint software. The new auto-stacking feature will be available in NextDent 5200 users and will make it possible to automatically prepare and place dental models on the build plate with a single click.

Researchers from UK and Spain used 3D Printing to help Visually Impaired using Printlets with Braille and Moon patterns. SLS 3D printing was used to fabricate the orally disintegrating printlets (ODPs) with Braille and Moon patterns, allowing patients to have fast knowledge regarding medication where Paracetamol was used as the model drug. The researchers believe this will encourages self-administration of medicines, improving patient compliance and treatment efficacy.

A Team of Researchers from China worked towards combining 3D printing with patient‐specific instrumentation (PSI) and performing a prospective randomized controlled trial (RCT) to show that 3DP‐designed PSI performed better than traditional TKA. CT scans were converted to 3D printing files, printed out on an UP BOX, using bio-safe polylactic acid. Eighty five patients got operated and received the LEGION Total Knee System. The outcomes on the follow up revealed PSI to have better postoperative radiological outcomes, accuracy in 3DP-designed PSI, and feasibility.

A Team of Researchers from UK experimented on using 3D Printing to create Orally disintegrating tablets (ODTs) of Ondansetron, a drug used in Vomiting receiving Chemotherapy, with the help of SLS 3D printing. The researchers developed a new type of ondansetron-cyclodextrin complexes meant to disintegrate rapidly, which were compared to Vonau Flash 8 mg, a commercial example of Ondansetron. Both 3D printed formulations disintegrated at ~15 s and released more than 90% of the drug within 5 min independent of the mannitol content, thus concluding that these results were comparable to those obtained with the commercial product with added benefit of using a manufacturing technology able to prepare medicines individualized to the patient.

Researchers at Morphologic Science Experimental Center, Central South University, China, worked towards making the use of Phone Cameras and Cloud service-based workflow to image bone specimens and print their three-dimensional (3D) models for anatomical education. Using four typical human bone specimens, the femur, rib, cervical vertebra and skull , photographed by a phone camera, they aligned and converted them into digital images for incorporation into a digital model through the Get3D website and submitted to an online 3D printing platform to obtain the 3D Printed models. The results were excellent and as low as distance deviations ≤2 mm were noted among 99% of the random sampling points that were tested.

A group of Researchers in Italy approached 3D Printing to create Intraoral Occlusal Splints, which are used by dentists to treat temporomandibular disorders as they force muscles to relax and provide relief from pain. A 44-year-old man with unknown medical cause for pain in his jaws, was selected and fit with Intraoral Occlusal Splint to stop the pain and reposition the mandible. The team scanned the teeth of the patient and saved it as .stl file, followed by using 3D ProJet MJP 3600 Dental by 3D Systems to 3D print the Intraoral Splint, with VisiJet® M3 Stoneplast acrylic resin, made for dental practices. The patient got relief of the pain within three weeks and has been advised to keep using the splint for another six months.

Researchers from China worked on a study that involved comparing 3D Print in pre-operative care to three-dimensional computed tomography (3D-CT) in Thoracoscopic Pulmonary Segmentectomy for Cancer Patients. 124 selected patients were divided into three groups- General, 3D-T and 3D Printing; and Pre-operative 3D image reconstruction was performed to view and reconstruct 3D images of the nodules, bronchi, and pulmonary vessels and the models were then printed on a Lite600HD 3D printer. 3D Printing Group was found to have decreased Intraoperative blood loss and reduced time of procedures.

Read More: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6976356/

University Medical Centre, Utrecht, which is working with two European start-ups, MRIguidance and Axial3D, has now received grant from European Eurostars to develop end-to-end solution for radiation-free pre-operative planning in Orthopaedics. BoneMRI, the product of the collaboration, yields CT-like images of the bones and complement soft tissues derived from an MRI scan, which are then used to create 3D Printed Medical Models of the same. This, therefore, reduces the radiation exposure as seen in CT but not MRI.

Canadian Researchers used 3D Printing to create Organ Models or Mannequin, called CASMER, which featured both 3D printing of almost all the organ shells, along with added packing material to flesh out the anatomy correctly. This involved four techniques: Realistic 3D printing of abdominal organs, Material-based moulding of the pancreas, Beeswax sculpting of abdominal fat and Off-the-shelf parts for the skeleton and outer shell. Muscle was made from Clear Flex® urethane rubber (Smooth-ON, PA), while fat was created from modelling beeswax. Rostock Max V2 3D printer was used, with source image data converted via segmentation software, as well as open-sourced Slicer.

3D printing start-up Copper3D, based in Chile and the US, worked towards using Nano-Copper additives, and adding antimicrobial properties to polymers like PLA and TPU to create antibacterial 3D printed objects. Now, their team of researchers have come up with “Viral Inactivation System for a Breast milk Shield to Prevent Mother-to-Child Transmission of HIV”, a 3D Printed Device that can effectively inactivate the HIV virus under the right conditions on certain objects. The Split-Sample Study on 20 Samples revealed reduction in transmission, close to 100%.

Surgical Removal of tumours, especially in Oral Cancer patients, is disfiguring and cannot be completely recovered even after reconstruction surgeries. But Titanium implants have shown promises in the field of reconstruction surgeries, and now, Russian researchers are trying to figure out osseous integration occurring with titanium implants in animals, post re-section, and studying both the implanting and then the required removal of prosthesis meant to be temporary. Titanium bionic implants, tetragonal-shaped, were fabricated to mimic human bone and a Russian-made selective laser melting (SLM) printer was used with Titanium VT1-00 powder. The researchers concluded Clear Establishment that the insertion of the implant led to tissue growth over the device, but with no inflammation detected.

A team of Researchers recently tried to evaluate the 3D Printed Prosthetics and Their End-Users Usage by creating a Prosthetic that had four features: Body powered control, Cosmetic appearance, Lightweight structure and Water and dirt resistance. The initial samples were printed on an Ultimaker 3, using PLA, testing the leaf spring and movement of the hand in five different experiments. The designs were then tested using both the Box and Blocks Test (BBT) and the Southampton Hand Assessment Procedure (SHAP) test which included 20 healthy students from the Delft University of Technology. The hand had negligible assembly, involving only removal of supports and one ‘snap-fit step.’

A Team of Researchers at the University of Toronto (UoT) and Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre unveiled a handheld 3D Skin Printer that dispenses Bioink composed of Mesenchymal Stromal cells to place skin over Severe Burns and during Surgeries. It can also cover Split Thickness Burns, and the current prototype includes a single-use microfluidic printhead to ensure sterilization and a soft wheel that follows the track of the printhead, allowing for better control for wider wounds. Enzymatically and thermally gelled fibrin and collagen biomaterials are used to finish up the Skin 3D Printing and Layering.

A team of Researchers in Costa Rica worked on a 3D Printed Medical Device that can be used to Suture skin uniformly and quickly with the scar left behind being aesthetically acceptable. The Class 2 FDA Electronic Medical Device was created using SOLIDWORKS Software based on three functions: Stabilize the skin, Rotate the needle on its axis to join tissue sections and Initiate and finish with the least possible amount of user interference. The first prototype was 3D Printed using Polyjet technology and AISI 316L alloy. Upon further surveys, they modified the final prototype to “improve its ergonomic factor” by adding a holder at the top of the shell for more stability and easier manipulation.

A 3D Printing Course Additive was released by Researchers from US and Canada, further strengthening the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA) 2018 Hands-On 3D printing course, which aims at creating 3D Printed cranio-maxillofacial (CMF), orthopaedic, and renal cancer models using 3D Printing, Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR). The image processing was provided by Mimics inPrint, allowing the researchers to fabricate anatomic regions of interest from the DICOM data. Three cases were followed: Pelvic fracture, Mandible tumour and Kidney tumour where 3D printed models were used to plan the pre-operative as well as reduce time and increase efficacy of the surgeries.

Researchers from China worked towards upgrading the routes of administering Anti-Cancer drugs using 3D Printing. With interstitial permanent radioactive seed implantation, cancer patients can receive large, localized doses for treating tumours. While most seeds are implanted using Ultrasound or CT these days, the research revolved around using 3D-PCT-guided seed implantation, assisted by CT processes, which makes implantation is ‘suitable’ for salvage treatment of recurrent and metastatic solid tumours. The Standard workflows for CT-assisted 3D-PCT-guided seed implantation included: Patient position fixation, CT-simulated positioning, Pre-planning design, 3D-PCT image production, Stabilization by 3D-PCT, Needle puncture for seed implantation, Implantation of seeds and Post-plan evaluation.

A team of researchers, led by Dr. Wong from NUS National Centre for Oral Health, received a grant from the National Additive Manufacturing Innovation Cluster (NAMIC). With the grant received, the team worked towards creating a method for combining materials in order to create 3D printed impacted tooth models that include pulp, the pulp chamber, nearby nerves, and simulated periodontal ligaments, followed by mounting of the 3D printed model onto a mannequin head that features artificial cheeks. The 3D Printed Models of the Dentations will help the students practice the surgical procedures and thereby, boost the confidence for the real ones when the opportunity comes.

Researchers from Taiwan worked on improved methods of accommodating bone defects after failed implants must be removed using 3D Printing. Bio-Active Dental implant, which were manufactured with laser-sintered additive 3D printing technique, were used in animal experiments where one side of distal femurs was randomly selected for the commercially pure titanium NobelActive implant (control group) and the other side with Bio-Active Ti₆Al₄V porous dental implant (ITRI group). After Bio-printing with EOSINT M 280 system, the researchers concluded that by enlarging pore width at the nanoscale, they can to increase bioactivity features as well as accelerate osseogenesis during Dental Surgeries.

German Researchers used SLA 3D Printer to create much realistic model for Case Scenarios based on the CBCT of the maxilla of a real patient that imitated several traumatic dental injuries, which was then used in a hands-on training course on Dental traumatology for undergraduate students in their final year in the Department of Conservative Dentistry and Periodontology in Munich, Germany. While half of the students were provided with access to dentaltraumaguide.org, the others didn’t. The students were then evaluated, where 57% reported it to be ‘very realistic’ and 43% choosing ‘rather realistic’, therefore concluding that 3D Printed Dental Models assisted students in correctly managing traumatic dental injuries.

Dr. Alfred Griffin, founder and CEO of the LightForce Orthodontics, a Start-up created on the idea of creating Patient-Specific Brackets using 3D Printing, aims at evolving with the Orthodontics industry and provide better innovative ideas in the field. Alfred created a patented system for 3D printed Orthodontic Treatment Brackets, using material nearly identical to injection modelled ceramic brackets, but formulated specifically for 3D printing. It’s a simple three-step digital workflow: scan, create the 3D model, and print. The online interface comes with cloud-based treatment planning software that allows users to make adjustments directly on the model, before the custom 3D printed appliance is shipped in just 7-10 business days after approval.

SmileDirectClub, a company founded in 2014 by Alex Fenkell and Jordan Katzman, has provided over 1 Million users with Custom Clear Aligners with pricing as low as 3$/Day. The Company has now partnered with HP to produce 20 million 3D printed molds over the next 12 months, targeted at more than 50,000 molds a day. The company will be using 49 of HP’s Multi Jet Fusion 3D Printing technology to manufacture the molds 24/7 with 6,300 workforces at 391 locations, therefore giving a tough competition to Invisalign.

This year’s IDS Summit 2019 held at Cologne, Germany, saw collaboration between California’s Nexa3D, a manufacturer of 3D printers offering stereolithography (SLA) for production-grade users, and BEGO, a provider of materials for dentist’s offices. Together, they are marketing the Varseo XL, to be sold by BEGO, headquartered in Germany. The new dental 3D printer is customized with Nexa3D’s proprietary Lubricant Sublayer Photo-curing (LSPc) technology, which functions via a high-speed light matrix, and will allow dental offices to print six times faster at ten times the volume, with a print area that is five times greater than any other dental 3D printer on the market. The Varseo XL will be showcased at IDS 2019 at booth M20/N29 – Hall 10.2, Koelnmesse, Fair Grounds, Cologne-Deutz until the fair closes on March 19, 2019.

Christen Boyer, a Bioprinting engineer and recent Postdoctoral Fellow at LSU Health Sciences Center in Shreveport, along with vascular cell biologist, tissue engineer, and professor at LSU Health Sciences Center, Steven Alexander; have developed a new technology to 3D Print Polyvinyl Alcohol (PVA) Medical Devices. The method generates biologically compatible 3D printing scaffolds that support cell engraftment because of the high level of protein binding, which is a result of the stabilization process. Working along with Hrishikesh Samant, a transplant surgeon at LSU Health, Boyer and Alexander came up with a novel crosslinked PVA (XL-PVA) 3D printed stent infused with collagen, human placental mesenchymal stem cells (PMSCs), and cholangiocytes. The customized living biliary stents have clinical applications in the setting of malignant and benign bile duct obstructions.

Researchers from Seoul, Korea, worked towards using 3D Printing to enhance Spine Surgeries by creating a new Endoscope-Assisted Spine Surgery System involving combined cannula, featuring one cannula for the endoscope and the other for surgical instruments, with major and minor axis diameters of 10.34 mm and 9.16 mm, respectively. The creation of Test Spine Model involved: Create 3D Design from 2D data from MRI and CT scans; 3D Print spine components; Fabricate silicone molds with the 3D printed spine components; Make spine components with required properties and Assemble the patient-specific model. Imaging data was imported to slicing software, with models then 3D printed on a Creatable D3.

Researchers at the VA Ann Arbor Healthcare System in Michigan, announced their pioneering project of creating a Portable Artificial Lung using 3D Printing. The wearable CO2 removal device for Veteran rehabilitation from lung disease is part of a two-year grant project, whose parts will be printed on a Stratasys J750 and Stereolithography 3D printers for other smaller parts. The project is expected to unfold by five to six years, where they will test the lung into a cohort of sheep using the cannulation technique, after which the sheep will be under anaesthesia for six hours, followed by chronic implantation where the sheep will be taken out of anaesthesia and monitored for 30 days.

A Research in London was done on Titanium Acetabular Cups made through 3D Printing comparing the designs of different 3D printed cups from multiple manufacturers which included: Delta TT (Lima Corporate, Italy) – 3D printed with electron beam melting (EBM), starting from Ti6Al4V powder; Trident II Tritanium (Stryker, USA) – 3D printed with laser rapid manufacturing (LRM), using titanium-aluminium-vanadium alloy (Ti6Al4V) powder and Mpact 3D Metal (Medacta, Switzerland) – 3D printed with electron beam melting (EBM), starting from Ti6Al4V powder. They were found to have beads, a known by-product of the manufacturing process, which may potentially be released in the human body.

Global Advanced Metals (GAM) is a leading supplier of tantalum powder solutions for metals additive manufacturing, and has been certified “Conflict-Free” since 2010 with exclusive rights to the world’s largest tantalum reserves in Western Australia. The company now plans to showcase the benefits of tantalum in medical devices at the Additive Manufacturing Strategies event held at Boston in February 2020. Third Party Researches have shown Tantalum to possess high biocompatibility, no measurable toxicity, osteointegration and elastic modulus properties similar to bone. GAM’s tantalum powders are suitable for printing via most additive manufacturing processes including laser powder bed fusion, electron beam melting, binder jetting and direct energy deposition.

An international Team of Bioengineers from the Bio-Microrobotics Laboratory of the Daegu Gyeongbuk Institute of Science and Technology (DGIST) partnered with the Ajou University and Microsystems Lab of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne (EPFL), using the Nanoscribe Photonic Professional system to create microstructure scaffolds for the Cochlear implant. Accompanied by a high-precision 3D printed steroid reservoir with a 2D MEMS-based electrode array, the medical device- “Germany’s Nanoscribe” is meant to allow patients to hear better—and by avoiding insertion trauma, preserves what hearing ability they still possess. The implant is designed to reduce the damage of residual hearing against electrode insertion trauma.

Researchers from China’s Zhejiang University used 3D Printing to study Anomalous Pulmonary Venous Connection (APVC), an uncommon congenital anomaly in which pulmonary venous blood flows directly into the right side of the heart or into the systemic veins. 3D printing of the personalized heart models was completed via an ISLA 650 3D printer (Shining 3D, China). Each patient-specific heart model took around half an hour to two hours to model, with 3D printing requiring anywhere from two to five hours. Surgeries were performed on all 17 patients, and each procedure was successful.

L.E.Murr, a researcher from the University of Texas at El Paso, wrote an overview of how 3D printing of Metal and Alloy Implants using powder bed fusion technologies, especially with commercial laser and electron beam systems, has rapidly emerged worldwide. He emphasized on key points: Applications of solidification fundamentals to powder bed fusion fabrication; Fundamentals of powder bed fusion AM of complex and porous biomedical implants; Design strategies for fabricating porous, optimized metal and alloy biomedical implants by powder bed fusion technologies and Examples of porous, powder-bed fabricated implants which included: Custom-built cranial/maxillofacial/implants and surgical, pre-operative models; 3D printed, open-cellular structure spinal implants; 3D implant designs for total hip arthroplasty; Total knee arthroplasty and open-cellular implant components and Complex skeletal reconstruction implants: personalization of implant fabrication through hospital point-of-care, 3D printing centers.

When it comes to Needles, everyone fears the prick. A Team of Researchers in China set out on path to 3D Print Hydrogel Microneedles that can be used for various clinical purposes involving drug loading, reducing pain and greatly increasing the drug loading capacity. They created creating high-performance yet affordable hydrogel Microneedles through high-precision digital light processing (H-P DLP). Upon completing the study, the authors noted 300ms as the ‘ideal exposure time’ for building Microneedles.

Scientists from US and China collaborated on a study to integrate Virtual and 3D Printing Applications into postoperative treatment of cancer. They shared 5 Cases of: Malignant Fibrous Histiocytoma; 3 × 3 cm Right neck mass discovered during examination for a stroke; 5.0 × 4.5 cm Mass in left cheek- Adenoid Cystic Carcinoma; 2.5 × 3.5 cm left Gingival Squamous Cell Carcinoma and 5 cm left Sub-Mucosal Oral Cavity Lesion. They explained how 3D Printing assisted with CAD/CAM and Virtual Reality assisted them in creating medical models prior to surgery and planning better outcomes.

Thomas Campbell and James F.X. Jones, Researchers from School of Medicine, University College Dublin, Ireland, have a created a new Open-Source 3D Printer relying on an XYZ positioning system capable of moving a sensor or probe. The latest FDM printer is run by a standard Raspberry Pi 3, incorporated with Open Computer Vision Library (OpenCV), Arduino Mega, RAMPS 1.4 motor shield, and NEMA17 bipolar stepper motors and approximately cost around $670.20. The applications include: Automated Microscopy Script that links seamlessly with image stitching plugins in ImageJ (Fiji) allowing the user to create high resolution montages application of graded rates of stretch to muscle spindles, a component of reflexes in our human body.

Authors Linglong Deng, Xing Zhao, Chi Wei, Wengiang Qu, Li Yu, and Shaobo Zhu, wrote their research paper about using 3D Printing in Bone Cancer and its application to create Prosthetic fit for the patient. Chondrosarcoma is an Aggressive Bone Tumour that requires limb salvaging as the only option. The team used 3D Printing to create Prosthesis with Titanium and screwed into the scapula of the patient suffering from Chondrosarcoma. After four weeks, the patient was able to move his hand, elbow, and shoulder, and is still in good condition with no pain in the shoulder.

A Team of researchers from Boston and India used 3D Printing to enhance the Applicators used in PDT for Oral Cancer Treatment. PDT or Photodynamic Therapy is a light based spatially-targeted cytotoxic therapy that targets cancer cells. They developed an Intraoral Light Delivery System consisting of modular 3D Printed Light Applicators with pre-calibrated dosimetry and mouth props that can be utilized to perform PDT in conscious subjects without the need of extensive infrastructure or manual positioning of an optical fiber. The Applicators were tested on five subjects with T1N0M0 oral lesions where no residual cancer cells were noted after the treatment. The team used Autodesk Fusion 360 to design the light applicators, and they were printed on a Stratasys Objet Pro system out of VeroBlue and VeroBlack filament.

Researchers from the Department of Orthopaedics Surgery, The Second Affiliated Hospital, and Yuying Children’s Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University, China, used 3D Printing to reduce the blood loss and surgery time in Hip fracture cases. 7 patients were assessed over a five-year period from 2012-2017, with 3D printed models created for treatment and surgical simulation. CT data was used to create 3D models of each patient’s fracture followed by trochanteric osteotomies, along with simulating intraoperative reduction and fixation techniques using the models fabricated using 3D Printing. The authors confirmed that with the use of the 3D Printed Model, they were able to reduce time in the operating room, and blood loss, but require further studies to confirm it.

Researchers from Taiwan performed an ANOVA study to determine the effectiveness of 3D Printing in helping people with Flat Foot. 18 Foot Orthoses (FO) samples were 3D Printed at orientations of 0°, 45°, and 90°, and subjected to human motion analysis, with 12 flatfooted individuals. 3D scans of the participants’ feet were exported as an STL file, which was edited with Autodesk Meshmixer software and 3D Printed out of PLA filament on an Infinity X1 FDM 3D printer. The build parameters of the FOs were defined using Ultimaker Cura 3.3 software. The results indicated that the 45° build orientation produced the strongest FOs. In addition, the maximum ankle evertor and external rotator moments under the Shoe+FO condition were significantly reduced by 35% and 16%, respectively, but the maximum ankle plantar flexor moments increased by 3%, compared with the Shoe condition.

Voodoo Manufacturing produces and distributes 3D Printed Clear Orthodontic Aligners for direct-to-consumer brands. Now, they have launched Voodoo Clear Aligners, a new dental manufacturing and distribution service, for its first partnering direct-to-consumer brand Smilelove, and expanded its high-volume 3D Printing factory. The Company states that with the addition of Formlabs 3D Printers, they will be able manufacture and ship more than 20,000 unique orthodontic clear aligners each month in the near future. Currently it can manufacture 20,000 aligner moulds a month with its current set-up, which would see around 700 patients receive treatment, but is planning to scale by four times before the end of year, producing 80,000 moulds a month for 2,800 patients.

3D Systems has received FDA 510(k) Clearance for their Biocompatible Dental Material, NextDent Denture 3D+, developed for use on the NextDent 5100 3D printing platform. According to 3D Systems, combination with the NextDent C&B MFH material, which has been designed to print the teeth of a denture, users can save up to 90% in cost and 75% in time for producing the base of denture. The new material also possesses excellent mechanical properties in accordance with ISO Denture Base Standards and the comprehensive colour palette allows dental labs are able to match the printed product to the patient’s gums.

TRUMPF, a German High-Tech Company launched a new 3D Printer- TruPrint 2000, at Frankfurt’s Formnext 2019, which is believed to be compatible with environment of aerospace, automotive, mechanical engineering, tool and mold making, as well as the medical and dental engineering industries. The machine processes the printing powder in an inert gas environment, which prevents contaminants from infiltrating the powder circuit and is a key advantage for applications such as sensitive medical devices. The TruPrint 2000 features a multilaser design with two 300-watt lasers working in tandem and is capable of printing parts out of Titanium. Additionally, the machine includes automated powder bed and melts pool quality monitoring, notification in the event of an error, and an end-to-end documentation trail.