Advances in Medical Applications of Additive Manufacturing

In the past few decades, additive manufacturing (AM) has been developed and applied as a cost-effective and versatile technique for the fabrication of geometrically complex objects in the medical industry. In this review, we discuss current advances of AM in medical applications for the generation o...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Chunxu Li, Dario Pisignano, Yu Zhao, Jiajia Xue
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Elsevier 2020-11-01
Series:Engineering
Subjects:
Online Access:http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2095809920302447
Description
Summary:In the past few decades, additive manufacturing (AM) has been developed and applied as a cost-effective and versatile technique for the fabrication of geometrically complex objects in the medical industry. In this review, we discuss current advances of AM in medical applications for the generation of pharmaceuticals, medical implants, and medical devices. Oral and transdermal drugs can be fabricated by a variety of AM technologies. Different types of hard and soft clinical implants have also been realized by AM, with the goal of producing tissue-engineered constructs. In addition, medical devices used for diagnostics and treatment of various pathological conditions have been developed. The growing body of research on AM reveals its great potential in medical applications. The goal of this review is to highlight the usefulness and elucidate the current limitations of AM applications in the medical field.
ISSN:2095-8099