J Pharmacol Pharmacother | Volume 1, Issue 1 | Review Article | Open Access
Adam Major1, Kevin Sneed2 and Yashwant V Pathak2,3*
1Judy Genshaft Honors College, University of South Florida, USA
2Taneja College of Pharmacy, University of South Florida, USA
3Faculty of Pharmacy, Airlangga University, Indonesia
*Correspondance to: Yashwant Pathak
Fulltext PDFAdditive manufacturing (AM), also known as 3D printing, is an unconventional manufacturing method that is applied in many fields, including medicine. Although AM is not as efficient as subtractive manufacturing for mass production, its high degree of personalization, rapid manufacturing and design time, flexibility with regards to structural limitations and material choice, relatively lower skill ceiling, and lower cost for small-scale fabrication makes it an appealing option for in-house 3D printing. This article reviews previous applications of in-house small-scale AM and expands upon the reasons why 3D printing was adopted in each case. To date, in-house AM has been used to make common or specialized surgical instruments, surgical guides and templates, biologically active and passive implants, and postoperative supports such as splints for cranial, oral, maxillofacial, and orthopedic surgery. Customization was the most commonly enunciated reason for the adoption of AM for these applications, as the combination of AM with medical imaging allows for the comparatively simple manufacturing of high-quality patient-specific medical devices out of biocompatible materials such as titanium, which are difficult to subtractively manufacture with a high degree of precision. Cost, manufacturing speed, material choice, and favorable biological activity with implants are also cited as reasons for the selection of 3D printing in the reviewed cases. Small-scale surgical AM does also face regulatory, functional, and ethical challenges, along with a limited amount of valid data. These findings indicate that in-house AM permits the efficient manufacturing of superior medical devices. Significant growth is expected in the coming decade in the fields of bioprinting and AM-related tissue engineering for surgical applications.
3D printing; Additive manufacturing; Customized splints; Implants; Medical modeling; Personalized medicine; Surgical guides; Tissue engineering
Major A, Sneed K, Pathak YV. Surgical Applications of In-House Additive Manufacturing (3D Printing). J Pharmacol Pharm. 2024; 1(1): 1002..