3D printing for healthcare

Contributed: Top 8 healthcare uses for 3D printing

New technology developments have enabled healthcare advances in 3D printing with an estimated $6.08 billion by 2027 in terms of software, hardware, services and materials. The technology has given a boost to customized medicine, allowing a more accurate understanding of patient symptoms and treatment, and generating increased efficiency in the operating room (OR). Advent of 3D printing technology is leaving its mark in specialties such as orthopedics, pediatrics, radiology and oncology, as well as in cardiothoracic and vascular surgery.

Doctors, hospitals and researchers around the world are using 3D printing for:

• preoperative planning and customized surgery.
• medical devices and surgical instruments.
• molds, prostheses and customizable implants.
• 3D digital dentistry and drug administration.

3D printing allows specialists to create reference models using MRI scans and CT in order to help surgeons prepare better for surgeries.

In 2016, a child in Northern Ireland had two unhealed bones injuries his forearm. The child could not rotate his arm more than 50% and was suffering from increased pain. CT scanning and X-rays showed deformed bones, and the treatment required an osteotomy – a four-hour invasive surgery in which the surgeon reshapes the bones to improve rotation. However, the surgeon, printed a 3D model that changed the diagnosis, the surgical intervention and the recovery of the patient:

• It was the tight structures between the bones and not the shape of the bones that limited the child’s rotation ability.
• The procedure was completed in less than 30 minutes, instead of four hours.
• The patient was able to gain 90% arm-range movement four weeks after the intervention.
• The recovery time, the post-operation pain and the scarring decreased considerably.

Such 3D printing is changing preoperative planning which translates into less time spent in the OR, better surgery outcomes for the patients, faster post-op recovery and lower costs for hospitals.

Due to decreased costs of 3D printers and increased availability of CAD/CAM medical software, more hospitals are creating in-house 3D-printed anatomical models. The process entails several steps:

• MRI and CT scans are processed in a stage known as segmentation.
• Each organ and body part type is modeled.
• Models are translated into STL file formats, arranged for printing and sent to the 3D printer.

Rady Children’s Hospital created its own 3D Innovations Laboratory for printing 3D models, including models that mimic human tissue such as airways, hearts and bones. In 2019, the hospital admitted a 7-year-old child born with a single functional heart ventricle (instead of the normal two). The medical team created a 3D-printed model that detailed every vein, artery and valve of the child’s heart, which enabled surgeons to identify the location where blood flow needed rerouting.

Anatomical models that are 3D-printed enable surgeons to plan the operation efficiently and establish better treatment solutions, decrease the operation's duration, and improve research and training for medical students.

In order to serve their purpose, medical devices must meet several requirements:

• They need to comprise the perfect balance in terms of size and weight.
• The must match the particular shapes of the human body.
• They have to be functional, and they have to pass specific endurance tests.

Producing medical device to meet these criteria traditionally required extensive time. The alternative found by medical device manufacturers was stereolithography – a process in which a moving laser beam controlled by computer builds the required structure layer by layer. Thus 3D printing has been used to create the prototype of an inhaler, including the needed fixtures and jigs, aiming to:

• Reduce production from one to two weeks to one to two days.
• Reduce cost 90% (from £250 to £11 or $343 to $15).

Customized 3D-printed surgical instruments such as scalpel handles, forceps or clamps help surgeons perform better in the OR, reduce operating time and promote better surgical outcomes for the patients.

Manufactured from materials such as stainless steel, nylon, titanium alloys or nickel, customized surgical instruments are well suited for sterilization. Endocon GmbH – a German medical device producer – has used metal 3D printing to create an alternative surgical tool for hip cup removal. This is traditionally a 30-minute procedure performed with a chisel, but the chisel can sometimes damage the tissue and bones, which results in an uneven surface, making the insertion of a new hip implant difficult.

Endocon’s stainless steel alloy 3D-printed blades, called endoCupcut, enabled precise cutting along the acetabular cup in three minutes and decreased the rejection rate for the replacement, while reducing production time and cost.

While simple prostheses are available in predefined sizes, customized bionic prostheses cost thousands of dollars. This situation affects many children who outgrow their prostheses and need customized replacement parts, which are produced by a handful of manufacturers.

In 2016, Lyman Connor and Eduardo Salcedo created the Lyman’s Mano-matic prosthesis to provide bionic prosthetics to those who need them and cannot afford them. Globally, prostheses designers can use 3D printing to overcome the financial obstacles and time line constraints entailed by this process. The costs of this manufacturing method are significantly lower than traditional methods, and the prostheses are ready in approximately two weeks, making 3D printing a viable solution for customized bionic devices that replicate a human limb's motions and grips.

Metal 3D printing enables medical devices designers to produce implants that perform better, match better and last longer, for knees, spine, skull or hips.

Electron Beam Melting (EBM) is a technology that melts a metal powder layer by layer with the help of an electron beam, thus generating high-accuracy parts. These orthopedic implants provide spongy structures that mimic regular bone tissue, resulting in a higher percentage of osseointegration – the in-growth of a bone into a metal implant.

In 2016, a patient suffering from a tumor that eroded five of his vertebrae was admitted to Peking University Third Hospital. The tumor, caused by a rare form of malignant chordoma, could be removed only through surgery. However, the healing of the extended size bones defects might not have been completely and correctly possible once the lesion would have been removed.

To address this challenge, researchers designed five artificial vertebrae similar to the body structure of the patient using EBM technology. The prosthesis enabled increased stability of the spine, reducing pain and increasing the durability of the device, which allowed the patient to walk without braces two months after the surgical intervention.

Customized 3D printed implants represent a flexible solution for difficult orthopedic cases and may generate more treatment opportunities in the future.

A recent report indicates that, by 2022, cumulative manufacturing will produce around 500 million dentistry devices and restorations every year, with an estimated $9 billion for the entire dental segment by 2028.

In the dental industry, 3D printing is used for the manufacturing of dentures, surgical guides, bridge models and, most of all, for clear aligners – invisible devices that straighten teeth.

Compared to metal braces, clear aligners are actually invisible and can be taken off when the wearers need to brush their teeth or eat. The traditional production method of clear aligners is a combination of manual and milling processes that requires time and effort. The 3D printing technique speeds up the process, since customized molds for clear aligners can be manufactured directly from digital scans of patients.

Looking for cost-efficient solutions, one dental start-up has perfected an easy process to produce molds for clear aligners:

• Customers take impressions of their teeth with an at-home impression kit or an intraoral scan at a specialized center.
• Impressions and scans are checked by a dental professional, who creates a plan for treatment.
• The company then sends the 3D-printed aligners to the customers.

Therefore 3D printing is a cost-effective method to produce clear aligners, since the setup and tools are not expensive, and their customization is, as proven, direct and simple. 

3D printing can also simplify drug administration with the help of 3D-printed pills. Polypill is a concept designed for patients suffering from several affections, containing five different drugs compartments and two separate release profiles.

Patients affected by several health issues often take their medication at different hours within the day, and this can be confusing in setting a schedule. This 3D printed pill handles both medication dosage and potential interactions between drugs treating different conditions, so eliminating the need for this scheduling and close monitoring.

The administration of a single customized pill to treat several ailments has multiple advantages:

• increased medication adherence to prescribed treatments.
• customized medication or drug combinations.
• lower production costs, due to the ability to treat more affections at the same time.
• greater accessibility in developing countries to affordable and efficient drugs.

As the price of high-performance 3D printers decreases, more medical professionals use 3D printing to produce cost-efficient customized devices in short periods of time, to design patient-tailored anatomical models, to identify revolutionizing clinical solutions and to create new treatments adapted to patients’ needs.

The advances in 3D-printing technology will attract more customized care and more high-precision medical instruments. At the same time, 3D printing is expected to make an impact in other medical specialties such as ophthalmology, regenerative medicine and bio-printing.

About the Author

Dr. Liz Kwo a serial healthcare entrepreneur, physician and Harvard Medical School faculty lecturer. She received an MD from Harvard Medical School, an MBA from Harvard Business School and an MPH from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

Introduction to Medical 3D Printing and 3D Printers for Healthcare

Personalized, precision medicine is on the rise. New tools and advanced technologies are bringing doctors closer to patients, delivering treatments and devices customized to better serve each unique individual.

Advances in medical 3D printing technology have made tremendous contributions to fields throughout healthcare. For patients, new tools and therapeutic methods developed through 3D printing can bring new degrees of comfort and personalization to treatment. For doctors, this newly accessible technology allows for a greater understanding of complex cases and provides new tools that can ultimately result in a higher standard of care.

From surgical planning models to 3D printed vasculature and bioreactors, read on to discover five ways 3D printing in healthcare is taking off and why many medical professionals are excited about the potential of 3D printing in the medical field. Then, learn about the most popular 3D printers for healthcare and how to choose a solution for specific use cases.

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3D printed anatomical models from patient scan data are becoming increasingly useful tools in today’s practice of personalized, precision medicine. As cases become more complex and operating room efficiency becomes more important for routine cases, visual and tactile reference models can enhance understanding and communication within OR teams and with patients.

Healthcare professionals, hospitals, and research organizations across the globe are using 3D printed anatomical models as reference tools for preoperative planning, intraoperative visualization, and sizing or pre-fitting medical equipment for both routine and highly complex procedures that have been documented in hundreds of publications.

Producing patient-specific, tactile reference models from CT and MRI scans is affordable and straightforward with 3D printing. Peer-reviewed literature shows that they provide an additional view that helps physicians prepare better for surgeries, leading to drastically reduced time and cost in the operating room while improving patient satisfaction, lowering anxiety, and reducing recovery time. 

Physicians can use patient-specific surgical models to explain the procedure beforehand, improving patient consent and lowering anxiety.

Learning from preoperative models can influence the course of treatment as well. This was true of the experience of Dr. Michael Eames. After replicating a young patient’s forearm bones, Dr. Eames realized the injury differed from what he’d previously thought.

Dr. Eames settled on a new, soft-tissue procedure—one that was much less invasive, decreased rehabilitation time, and produced far less scarring. Using the printed bone replica, Dr. Eames walked the young patient and his parents through the procedure and obtained their consent.

The result? A surgery time of less than 30 minutes, instead of the initially planned surgery of three hours. This difference in surgery time led to an estimated $5,500 in cost avoidance for the hospital and meant the patient would need to spend less recovery time in postoperative care.

In the words of Dr. Alexis Dang, an orthopedic surgeon at the University of California San Francisco (UCSF) and the San Francisco Veteran's Affairs Medical Center: “Every one of our full-time orthopedic surgeons and nearly all of our part-time surgeons have utilized 3D printed models for care of patients at the San Francisco VA. We’ve all seen that 3D printing improves performance on game day.”

New biocompatible medical 3D printing materials have also enabled new surgical tools and techniques to be developed for the express purpose of further improving clinical experience during surgery. These include sterilizable fixation trays, contouring templates, and implant sizing models that can be used to size implants in the OR before the first cut, helping surgeons reduce time and increase accuracy of complex procedures. 

Anatomical model of a hand, including the 'skin' made out of an elastic 3D printing material.

Todd Goldstein, PhD, Instructor at the Feinstein Institute for Medical Research, is unequivocal in his estimation of how central 3D printing technology has become to his department. He estimates that if Northwell uses 3D printed models in 10-15% of its cases, it could save $1,750,000 a year.

“From medical device prototypes, complicated anatomical models for our children’s hospital, to creating training systems, and finally entering the dental clinic with implant surgical guides, [3D printing technology] has increased our capabilities and decreased our costs, all while allowing us to provide tools to treat patients that would be next to impossible to replicate without our go-to SLA 3D printer,” said Goldstein.

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3D printing has virtually become a synonym for rapid prototyping. The ease of use and low cost of in-house 3D printing has also revolutionized product development and many manufacturers of medical tools have adopted the technology to produce brand new medical devices and surgical instruments.

Over 90 percent of the top 50 medical device companies use 3D printing to create accurate prototypes of medical devices, jigs and fixtures to simplify testing, as well as directly 3D printing medical devices.

In the words of Alex Drew, a mechanical project engineer at DJO Surgical, a global provider of medical devices. “Before DJO Surgical brought the [Formlabs 3D printer] on board, we relied almost exclusively on outside print vendors for prototypes. Today, we are running four Formlabs machines, and the impact has been profound. Our rate of 3D printing has doubled, cost has been reduced by 70 percent, and the level of print detail allows for clear communication of designs with orthopedic surgeons.”

Medical device companies like Coalesce use 3D printing to create accurate prototypes of medical devices.

3D printing can accelerate the design process by iterating complex designs in days instead of weeks. When Coalesce was tasked to create an inhaler device that can digitally assess an asthma patient’s inspiratory flow profile outsourcing to service providers would have resulted in lengthy lead times for each prototype. Design files would have had to be painstakingly refined through various iterations before being sent off-site to be built. 

Instead, desktop SLA 3D printing allowed Coalesce to keep the entire prototyping process in-house. The prototypes were fit for use in clinical studies and looked just like a finished product. In fact, when they showcased the device, their clients mistook the prototype for the final product.

Overall, in-house represented an enormous 80–90% reduction in lead time for prototypes. What’s more, the parts took only eight hours to print and could be finished and painted within a few days, while the same process would have taken a week or two through an external contractor.

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Each year hundreds of thousands of people lose a limb, but only a subset of them get access to a prosthesis to recover its function.

Simple prostheses are only available in a few sizes, so patients must make do with what fits best, while custom-fit bionic devices designed to mimic the motions and grips of real limbs that rely on muscles in a person’s residual limb to control their functions are so expensive that they’re only accessible to patients with the best health insurance in developed countries. This particularly affects prostheses for children. As children grow and get into adventures, they inevitably outgrow their prostheses and require expensive repairs.

The difficulty is the lack of manufacturing processes that can produce custom parts affordably. But increasingly, prosthetists can take advantage of 3D printing’s much-noted design freedom to mitigate these high financial barriers to treatment. 

Initiatives such as e-NABLE allow entire communities around the world to form around 3D printed prostheses. They’re driving an independent movement in prosthetic production by sharing information and open-source designs freely online, so patients can get a custom-designed prosthesis that is well-adapted for them for as little as $50.  

Other inventors like Lyman Connor, take this one step further. With only a small facility of four desktop 3D printers, Lyman was able to complete and fit his first production prostheses. His ultimate objective? To create a customizable, fully bionic hand to be sold at a fraction of the current tens of thousands of dollars retail price tag for such advanced prostheses. 

Elsewhere, researchers at MIT have also identified 3D printing as an optimal means of producing more comfortable prosthesis sockets.

Needless to say, the low cost of producing these prostheses, along with the freedom that comes with custom designs, has proved revelatory. Prostheses made with 3D printing can be turned around in as little as two weeks and then can be trialed and maintained at a much lower cost than their traditional counterparts. 

As the costs continue to decrease and material properties improve, 3D printing will undoubtedly play an increasing role in this department of healthcare.

Many of the same high financial barriers to treatment seen in prosthetics are also native to fields such as orthoses and insoles. Like many other patient-specific medical devices, custom orthoses are often inaccessible due to their high cost and take weeks or months to get manufactured. With 3D printing, that no longer needs to be the case.

The example of Matej and his son Nik springs to our mind. Born prematurely in 2011, difficulties during childbirth caused Nik to have cerebral palsy, a condition that affects almost twenty million people worldwide. Matej was inspired by his son’s unwavering will to transcend the limitations of his condition, but he was faced with a choice between a standard, pre-made orthosis that would have been inadequate and uncomfortable for his son, or an expensive custom solution that would take weeks or months to be delivered, only to be made quickly obsolete by a growing child.

He decided to take matters into his own hands and sought out new solutions to achieve this goal. With the freedom offered by digital technologies including  3D scanning and 3D printing, Matej and Nik's physical therapists were able to experiment liberally and develop an entirely new innovative workflow for ankle foot orthoses (AFOs).

The resulting custom-made, 3D printed orthosis provided Nik with support, comfort, and correction precisely where it was needed, helping Nik to at last take his first independent steps. This custom orthotic device reprised the highly-adjusted finish of high-end orthotics, at a fraction of the price, and with no further adjustments required.

Professionals around the world are using 3D printing to reinvent patient- and customer-specific insoles and orthoses, as well as a range of other tools for improving physical therapy. In the past, the course of physical therapy using customized tools had proved difficult. Patients often faced long wait times and finished pieces that led to discomfort. 3D printing is on the path to change this status quo. 3D printed insoles and orthoses have proved to be a better fit, led to better therapeutic outcomes, and provided a greater degree of comfort and use for patients.

The conventional means of treating patients with grave organ failures currently involve using autografts, a graft of tissue from one point to another of the same individual's body, or organ transplants from a donor. Researchers in the fields of bioprinting and tissue engineering are hoping to soon change that and be able to create tissues, blood vessels, and organs on demand.

3D bioprinting refers to the use of additive manufacturing processes to deposit materials known as bioinks to create tissue-like structures that can be used in medical fields. Tissue engineering refers to the various evolving technologies, including bioprinting, to grow replacement tissues and organs in the laboratory for use in treating injury and disease. 

With the help of high-precision 3D printing, researchers like Dr. Sam Pashneh-Tala from the University of Sheffield have brought new possibilities to tissue engineering.

To direct cellular growth so that the required tissue is formed, Dr. Pashneh-Tala grows living cells on a scaffold in the lab, that provides a template of the required shape, size, and geometry. For example, a tubular structure is needed to create a blood vessel for a cardiovascular patient. The cells will multiply and cover the scaffold, taking on its shape. The scaffold then gradually breaks down, leaving the living cells arranged into the shape of the target tissue, that is cultured in a bioreactor, a chamber that contains the developing tissue and can reproduce the internal environment of the body, to acquire mechanical and biological performance of organic tissue.

A 3D printed bioreactor chamber with a tissue-engineered miniature aorta growing inside. The tissue is cultured in the bioreactor to acquire the mechanical and biological performance of organic tissue.

This will empower scientists to create patient-specific vascular graft designs, improved surgical options and provides a unique testing platform for new vascular medical devices for those suffering from cardiovascular disease, that is currently the number one cause of death worldwide. Following that, the ultimate goal is to create blood vessels that are ready to be implanted into the patients. As tissue engineering uses cells that are taken from the patient requiring the treatment, it eliminates the possibility of rejection by the immune system—a major issue in conventional organ transplant procedures today. 

3D printing has proven capable of responding to the challenges of producing synthetic blood vessels by solving the difficulties of recreating the precise shapes, sizes and geometries of the vessel required. Being able to closely match printed solutions to the specific needs of patients has proved revelatory. 

In Dr. Pashneh-Tala’s words: “[Creating blood vessels through 3D printing] offers the potential for improved surgical options and even patient-matched blood vessel designs. Without access to high-precision, affordable 3D printing, creating these shapes would not be possible.”

We have seen exciting breakthroughs in biological materials suitable for use in 3D printers. Scientists are developing new hydrogel materials that have the same consistency as organ tissue that can be found in the human brain and lungs and can be compatible with various 3D printing processes. Scientists are hoping to be able to implant them onto an organ, to act as ‘scaffold’ onto which cells would be encouraged to grow.

While bioprinting fully functional internal organs such as hearts, kidneys, and livers still sounds futuristic, advancements with hybrid 3D printing techniques are happening at a very rapid rate. 

Sooner or later, building biological matter in laboratory printers is expected to lead to the ability to generate new, fully functional 3D printed organs. In April 2019, scientists created the first 3D heart using a patient's biological materials at Tel Aviv University. The tiny replica was created using the patient’s own biological materials, engendering a complete match of the patient’s immunological, cellular, biochemical, and anatomical profile.

"At this stage, our 3D heart is small, the size of a rabbit's heart, but larger human hearts require the same technology," said Professor Tal Dvir.

The first 3D bioprinted heart, created at the University of Tel Aviv.

When it comes to 3D printers for healthcare, not all methods are created equal. It is important to choose the right printing technology for specific use cases. 

The most popular medical 3D printing technologies include stereolithography (SLA), selective laser sintering (SLS), and fused deposition modeling (FDM) for plastic parts, and direct metal laser sintering (DMLS) and selective laser melting (SLM) for metals.

SLA 3D printers use a laser to cure liquid resin into hardened plastic in a process called photopolymerization. SLA is one of the most popular processes among medical professionals due to its high resolution, precision, and material versatility.

• Advantages of SLA

SLA parts have the highest resolution and accuracy, the clearest details, and the smoothest surface finish of all plastic 3D printing technologies. The main benefit of SLA, however, lies in its versatility. SLA resin formulations offer a wide range of optical, mechanical, and thermal properties to match those of standard, engineering, and industrial thermoplastics.

SLA is a great option for highly detailed anatomical models, medical device prototypes requiring tight tolerances and smooth surfaces, as well as molds, tooling, patterns, and functional end-use parts. SLA also offers the widest selection of biocompatible materials for dental and medical applications. With Draft Resin, the Formlabs SLA printers are also the fastest options for 3D printing large prototypes, up to 10X faster than FDM.

SLA’s wide versatility comes with a slightly higher price tag than FDM, but it is still more affordable than all other 3D printing processes. SLA resin parts also require post-processing after printing, which includes washing the parts and post-curing.

SLA 3D printing offers a wide selection of 3D printing materials, including biocompatible materials, for a variety of medical and dental applications.

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SLS 3D printers use a high-powered laser to fuse small particles of polymer powder. The unfused powder supports the part during printing and eliminates the need for dedicated support structures, making SLS a particularly effective choice for complex mechanical parts.

Its ability to produce parts with excellent mechanical capabilities makes SLS the most common polymer additive manufacturing technology for industrial applications. Depending on the material, SLS nylon parts may also be biocompatible and sterilizable.

• Advantages of SLS

Since SLS printing doesn’t require dedicated support structures, it’s ideal for complex geometries, including interior features, undercuts, thin walls, and negative features. Parts produced with SLS printing have excellent mechanical characteristics, with strength resembling that of injection-molded parts.

The most common material for SLS is nylon, a popular engineering thermoplastic with excellent mechanical properties. Nylon is lightweight, strong, and flexible, as well as stable against impact, chemicals, heat, UV light, water, and dirt. 3D printed nylon parts can also be biocompatible and not sensitizing, which means that they are ready to wear and safe to use in many contexts.

The combination of low cost per part, high productivity, established materials, and biocompatibility makes SLS a popular choice among medical device developers for functional prototyping, and a cost-effective alternative to injection molding for limited-run or bridge manufacturing.

SLS 3D printers have a higher entry price than FDM or SLA technologies. While nylon is a versatile material, material selection for SLS is also more limited than for FDM and SLA. Parts come out of the printer with a slightly rough surface finish and require media blasting for a smooth finish.

SLS 3D printing is ideal for strong, functional prototypes and end-use parts, such as prosthetics and orthotics.

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FDM, also known as fused filament fabrication (FFF), is a printing method that builds parts by melting and extruding thermoplastic filament, which a printer nozzle deposits layer by layer in the build area.

FDM is the most widely used form of 3D printing at the consumer level, fueled by the emergence of hobbyist 3D printers. Industrial FDM printers are, however, also popular with professionals.

• Advantages of FDM

FDM works with an array of standard thermoplastics, such as ABS, PLA, and their various blends. This results in a low price of entry and materials. FDM best suits basic proof-of-concept models and the low-cost prototyping of simpler parts. Some FDM materials are also biocompatible.

FDM has the lowest resolution and accuracy when compared to other 3D printing technologies for plastics such as SLA or SLS, which means that it is not the best option for printing complex designs or parts with intricate features, such as anatomical models. Higher-quality finishes require labor-intensive and lengthy chemical and mechanical polishing processes. Some industrial FDM 3D printers use soluble supports to mitigate some of these issues and offer a wider range of engineering thermoplastics, but they also come at a steep price. When creating large parts, FDM printing also tends to be slower than SLA or SLS.

Direct metal laser sintering (DMLS) and selective laser melting (SLM) 3D printers work similarly to SLS printers, but fuse metal powder particles together layer by layer using a laser instead of polymers.  

DMLS and SLM 3D printers can create strong, accurate, and complex metal products, making this process ideal for a variety of medical applications.

The biggest advantage of these processes is obviously the materials, as DMLS and SLM 3D printers are capable of producing high-performing end-use medical devices and components from metal. These processes can reproduce complex geometries and the finished products are strong, durable, and biocompatible. They can be used to manufacture generic implants (hips, knees, spine implants, etc.), custom implants for cancer or trauma treatment, dentures, as well as medical and orthopedic technology products.

While the prices of metal 3D printers have also begun to decrease, with costs ranging from $200,000 to $1 million+, these systems are still not accessible to most businesses. Metal 3D printing processes also have an involved and complex workflow.

Alternatively, SLA 3D printing is well-suited for casting workflows that produce metal parts at a lower cost, with greater design freedom, and in less time than traditional methods.

The table below highlights the 3D printing technologies that are best equipped to handle the different medical 3D printing applications.

	Stereolithography (SLA)	Selective Laser Sintering (SLS)	Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM)	Metal 3D Printing (DMLS, SLM)
Build volume	Up to 300 x 335 x 200 mm (desktop and benchtop 3D printers)	Up to 165 x 165 x 300 mm (benchtop industrial 3D printers)	Up to 300 x 300 x 600 mm (desktop and benchtop 3D printers)	Up to 400 x 400 x 400 mm (large industrial DMLS/SLM)
Price range	Starting from $3,750	Starting from $18,500	Starting from $2,500	Starting from $200,000
Materials	Varieties of resin (thermosetting plastics). Standard, engineering (ABS-like, PP-like, silicone-like, flexible, heat-resistant, rigid), castable, dental, and medical (biocompatible).	Engineering thermoplastics, typically nylon and its composites (nylon is biocompatible + compatible with sterilization).	Standard thermoplastics, such as ABS, PLA, and their various blends.	Stainless steel, tool steel, titanium, cobalt chrome, and aluminum.
Ideal applications	Anatomical models, highly detailed prototypes requiring tight tolerances and smooth surfaces; molds, tooling, patterns, functional parts, dental and medical end-use devices.	Complex geometries, functional prototypes, short-run or bridge manufacturing of medical devices, including orthotics and prosthetics.	Basic proof-of-concept models, low-cost prototyping of simple parts.	Strong, durable parts with complex geometries, implants, dentures, medical and orthopedic components out of metal.

Precise and affordable medical 3D printing processes are democratizing access to the technology, empowering healthcare professionals to develop new clinical solutions and quickly manufacture custom devices, and allowing physicians to deliver new treatments across the globe.  As medical 3D printing technologies and materials continue to improve, they will pave the path for personalized care and high-impact medical applications.

Every medical facility should have access to the latest tools to improve care and provide the best patient experience. Get started now or expand your in-house production with Formlabs, a proven, cutting-edge partner in medical 3D printing.

Reach out to our medical experts to learn more about how in-house 3D printing can provide better treatment and supplement your current medical device design and manufacturing workflow. 

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Using 3D printing in healthcare to empower the industry in 2022

Technologies such as 3D printing and microfluidics are “starting to deliver the results that personalized medicine has long promised,” says Savi Bawei, director of strategy and development at HP. Many hospital labs are using 3D printing to create surgical models and manuals. , and many companies are using this technology to make personalized prostheses and orthoses, splints and other assistive devices. 3D printing helps doctors better control the process of patients' rehabilitation, and patients better understand what is happening in their body.

"Demand is already very high - the market for personalized medical devices, including custom orthotics and prostheses, is estimated at about $10 billion, and the need for them is growing exponentially," writes Bawea. assistive devices, and by 2030 it is expected that more than two billion people worldwide will need at least one such device.

In its annual Additive Technology Market Outlook, Shapeways shared a similar sentiment on the positive impact 3D printing is having on the development of personalized healthcare and patient-centric care.

"The ability to create new products, digitally account for replacement parts, and even bring obsolete parts back to life, all find their way into the automotive, rail and aerospace industries," writes Shapeways. "However, for the medical industry, 3D printing has a unique value because it offers incredible opportunities to improve the quality of life and save lives, as has been proven in a variety of personal medical devices, prostheses and robotic arms. "

Citing data that the 3D printing market will reach $5.1 billion by 2026, Shapeways writes that expected growth will continue through 3D printed products such as surgical aids and instruments, medical models, prostheses, custom implants. and other devices.

As noted by SmarTech Analysis in 2021, 3D printing is showing “true signs of reshaping the healthcare industry”, with the potential for “large-scale innovation in the medical field through the introduction of 3D printing.” The technology offers greater automation, personalization and digitization, which contributes to quality improvement treating patients and lowering costs for OEMs.With this in mind, 3DPrint.com asked some experts in our industry for their thoughts on what 3D printing is in store for in healthcare this year.It should come as no surprise that personalization has been at the forefront of list

"3D printing will continue to empower the healthcare industry and professionals, unlocking the potential to deliver the best possible patient care. The future is 3D printing at the point of care with innovative solutions that are closer to patients," Mohsen Seifi, MD, told us. Philosophy, Director of Global Additive Manufacturing Programs, ASTM International - With the continuous development of the 3D printing industry, the healthcare industry will witness true "personalization" that will change people's lives through bioprinting, regenerative medicine and more.Standards and regulation are key goals, we There is a lot of work to be done on this."

ASTM International works to educate professionals in the industry and has defined and established thousands of standards that are in effect around the world and improve the lives of millions of people. In 2020, the organization partnered with America Makes to create a 3D printing data policy guide that can be used by stakeholders and additive technology experts who want to help grow the data ecosystem and contribute to standardization. In a recent roundtable, Materialize delved into the "growing relevance of knowledge in 3D printing" and touched on its importance in the medical field.

"For medical applications of AT, we need to distinguish between two types of data. On the one hand, smarter parameters allow medical companies to improve the process of manufacturing personalized and more complex medical devices," explains Peter Slagmolen, Medical Innovation Manager at Materialize, "On the other hand "There is also 'patient data.' Incorporating this personalized data into the planning and production process allows us to improve patient care, but it comes with additional privacy and security concerns."

Of course, as Materialize's CTO Bart Van der Schuren explained, "Manufacturers can share data privately by making it anonymous, which allows them to "empower others and drive innovation in the industry without exposing their competitive advantage."

Materialize booth at RAPID 2021.

The data obtained will allow manufacturers to improve processes and designs, which will not only save money (health care is a business too), but also help improve patient outcomes.

"Most manufacturers not only claim ownership of designs and processes, but also express a desire to control them. They may choose to share some of this data to empower others, but manufacturers should retain ownership and control. This will enable them to create smarter manufacturing processes that will keep them ahead of the competition,” said Peter Leyes, Executive Chairman of the Board of Directors of Materialize.

When it comes to medical applications of 3D printing, Materialize says that hospitals and medical device manufacturers "clearly" own process data for quality assurance purposes, although it's not clear who officially owns patient data. Regardless of ownership, access to patient data is necessary to provide "the best possible care."

Both types of data are essential for personalized printed healthcare, which Desktop Health President and CEO Michael Jafar told 3DPrint.com "will change many aspects of medicine, from cost savings to time savings - there's not a single area that isn't impacted positively. " 3D printing".

"Today, when a patient needs to have a customized stent or graft made, they will have to spend several days in the hospital while the product is being made for them. As a result, the patient will have to pay several thousand just for the hospital stay," Jafar continues. "Now, thanks to 3D By printing, a doctor can digitally create the desired stent or graft and produce a custom-made product in just a few hours, significantly reducing the cost of a patient's hospitalization." The personalization of 3D printing in healthcare is enabling better fit, fewer failed attempts, faster speeds, and lower costs."

PhonoGraft: biomimetic graft capable of providing high quality and durable eardrum reconstruction

Last year, Desktop Metal opened a medical 3D printing division that specializes in the production of healthcare-related products such as customized implants, dentures, and an innovative technology platform for 3D printing of eardrum grafts.

“Additive manufacturing will be the only solution for manufacturing products in the future, including healthcare. It's not 10 years, it's not even five years. The future is in the next two years,” says Jafar. “Companies will have to look for greener ways to produce their products. This is an incredible and amazing time to be a part of these industry changes that will have such a profound impact on the global footprint and our ecosystem.3D printing is putting healthcare on the cusp of a revolution, pushing the boundaries and creating opportunities for applications that can minimize inventory, reduce minimize supply chain issues, improve patient care and reduce hospital stays.When 3D printing becomes mainstream, you will have the right printed product to your exact specifications in 30-60 minutes instead of weeks."

From what co-founder, chairman and CEO Avi Reichental told us, Nexa3D is in complete agreement.

"Localized manufacturing will continue to flourish in the healthcare sector. The ongoing pandemics around the world have led to increased interest in telemedicine," Reichenthal told 3DPrint.com.

He mentioned a collaborative project that Nexa3D was involved with last year to 3D print a plug-in stethoscope for use in telemedicine.

The WeMed SKOP is the world's first connected stethoscope printed on the Nexa3D 3D printer.

"In collaboration with our partners Third, Hava and Henkel, together with the French telemedicine company WeMed, we printed the SKOP stethoscope, which people can use at home to interact directly with healthcare professionals. Products such as SKOP, which can be printed on a production scale, making healthcare more accessible and affordable to more people," he continued. "Of course, pandemic response measures such as PPE remain an important priority. This allows more and more people in healthcare to understand how work with new technologies.

During RAPID 2021, Reichental predicted that the future of Nexa3D in healthcare and dentistry is very promising, since these two directions are "really open verticals for AT in general and Nexa3D in particular. " He believes that "the digitalization of the surgical planning process" and "the implementation of surgical guidelines for each patient" will only grow as surgeons continue to use 3D printed implants and medical models for training, testing medical equipment and in surgery.

Another company that believes that the adoption of 3D printing in healthcare will only grow is 3D Systems.

3D Printed VSP® hybrid surgical guides from 3D Systems for CMF applications.

"We are seeing 3D-printed surgical instruments and implantable devices become more commonplace due to an increase in clinical research conducted by both commercial and educational institutions," said Menno Ellis, 3D Systems Executive Vice President of Solutions Development. for medicine - We expect adoption to be driven by technical advances in 3D printing that will enable cost-effective solutions for broader areas of the human anatomy.0006 COVID has challenged companies around the world with logistical challenges, providing an additional catalyst for leading point-of-care medical and dental institutions to bring implant and device manufacturing closer to the patient. The opportunities and economic benefits of 3D printing are well suited to these initiatives, and we expect more activity in this direction."