3D Printed Tablets (Printlets) with Braille and Moon Patterns for Visually Impaired Patients

Abstract

Visual impairment and blindness affects 285 million people worldwide, resulting in a high public health burden. This study reports, for the first time, the use of three-dimensional (3D) printing to create orally disintegrating printlets (ODPs) suited for patients with visual impairment. Printlets were designed with Braille and Moon patterns on their surface, enabling patients to identify medications when taken out of their original packaging. Printlets with different shapes were fabricated to offer additional information, such as the medication indication or its dosing regimen. Despite the presence of the patterns, the printlets retained their original mechanical properties and dissolution characteristics, wherein all the printlets disintegrated within ~5 s, avoiding the need for water and facilitating self-administration of medications. Moreover, the readability of the printlets was verified by a blind person. Overall, this novel and practical approach should reduce medication errors and improve medication adherence in patients with visual impairment.

3D printed tacrolimus suppositories for the treatment of ulcerative colitis

“…Previous studies have demonstrated the potential of 3D printing to tailor oral medicines to individual patients [56] , [57] , [58] , [59] , and the feasibility of this technology to prepare tailored medicines in a hospital setting [35] . In the present study, we have investigated the potential of SSE 3D printing for the development of customised lipid-based suppositories with different sizes and containing a specific dose of drug.…”

The Economics of Classroom 3-D Printing of Open-Source Digital Designs of Learning Aids

“…For example, a low-cost, open source ultrasound-based navigational support system in the form of a 3-D printable wearable bracelet has been demonstrated to allow people with vision loss to navigate, orient themselves in their surroundings and avoid obstacles when moving. Similarly, research has already shown the efficacy of 3-D printing to create orally disintegrating printlets (ODPs), suitable for patients with visual impairment, with Braille and Moon patterns on their surface, enabling patients to identify medications when taken out of their original packaging [103]. Students may start printing learning aids and Braille labels for peers, but as they become more technically sophisticated, fabricating ultrasound-based navigational aids from open-source plans or ODPs is possible and no longer economically inaccessible.…”

Selective Laser Sintering of Solid Oral Dosage Forms with Copovidone and Paracetamol Using a CO2 Laser

“…To date, although only a few papers related to the production of SODFs by SLS have been issued [ 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 , 15 , 16 , 17 , 18 , 19 , 20 ], they demonstrated clearly that it is possible to manufacture oral medicines with a sintering machine using different pharmaceutical thermoplastic polymers (copovidone, cellulose derivatives and Eudragit ® ). These contributions distinctly highlight the most important benefit that SLS could have in pharmaceutical manufacturing: its ability to create more or less porous forms by modulating the printing parameters and hence control the drug release from the printed SODFs.…”

“…It is important to note that although all the aforementioned work was conducted with SLS machines that use a blue diode laser, none of the evaluated polymers absorbed at the wavelength of the laser. Therefore, a colorant e.g., “Candurin ® ” was added to enhance the absorbance and allow the sintering process [ 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 , 15 , 16 , 17 , 18 , 19 , 20 ]. Nonetheless, the majority of commercially available SLS printers use a different laser beam, which is the carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) laser beam (λ = 10.6 μm).…”