Can 3D-printed medical implants boost strength, reduce costs?

3D printing has expanded into the field of implantable medical devices by making them more personalized, stronger and at a reduced cost. Researchers from the University of Florida published recent findings on a new 3D process in Science Advances.

The new technique uses a combination of 3D printing and silicone to develop ports for draining bodily fluids, implantable bands, balloons, soft catheters, slings and meshes. Researcher hope the new process will improve current therapeutic devices that control and release drugs.

"Our new material provides support for the liquid silicone as it is 3D printing, allowing us create very complex structures and even encapsulated parts out of silicone elastomer," said lead author Christopher O'Bryan, a mechanical and aerospace engineering doctoral student in UF's Herbert Wertheim College of Engineering.

Current production of implantable medical devices involves waiting weeks for customized molds that are often expensive. With the 3D printing method, researchers are able to create stronger molds in hours with enough precision of smaller complex devices.

"The reality is that we are probably decades away from the widespread implanting of 3D-printed tissues and organs into patients," said team member Tommy Angelini, an associate professor of mechanical and aerospace. "By contrast, inanimate medical devices are already in widespread use for implantation. Unlike the long wait we have ahead of us for other 3D bioprinting technologies to be developed, silicone devices can be put into widespread use without technologically limited delay."