3D-Printing Technologies for Craniofacial Rehabilitation, Reconstruction, and Regeneration

Abstract

The treatment of craniofacial defects can present many challenges due to the variety of tissue-specific requirements and the complexity of anatomical structures in that region. 3D-printing technologies provide clinicians, engineers and scientists with the ability to create patient-specific solutions for craniofacial defects. Currently, there are 3 key strategies that utilize these technologies to restore both appearance and function to patients: rehabilitation, reconstruction and regeneration. In rehabilitation, 3D-printing can be used to create prostheses to replace or cover damaged tissues. Reconstruction, through plastic surgery, can also leverage 3D-printing technologies to create custom cutting guides, fixation devices, practice models and implanted medical devices to improve patient outcomes. Regeneration of tissue attempts to replace defects with biological materials. 3D-printing can be used to create either scaffolds or living, cellular constructs to signal tissue-forming cells to regenerate defect regions. By integrating these three approaches, 3D-printing technologies afford the opportunity to develop personalized treatment plans and design-driven manufacturing solutions to improve aesthetic and functional outcomes for patients with craniofacial defects.

Differential thermal analysis of the antibacterial effect of PLA-based materials planned for 3D printing

“…Recently, manufacturing technique is useful to create physical models for different medical and pharmacological application based on three-dimensional (3D) computed data [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19]. All these applications strongly rely on material properties such as mechanical and thermal characteristics, biocompatibility, and in the last years, the antibacterial capability became important factor because of the undesirable infections.…”

Surgical Planning of Sacral Nerve Stimulation Procedure in Presence of Sacral Anomalies by Using Personalized Polymeric Prototypes Obtained with Additive Manufacturing Techniques

“…In our opinion based on the presented results, prototyping of anatomical models can aid the surgeon in planning the intervention, by actually manipulating a 3D model of the structure, which is intuitively better than only seeing the 3D reconstruction on screen. Our proposal sums to pioneering examples of surgical planning aided by 3D image reconstruction and patient avatars, either supported by physical prototypes or not, which have proven successful for bone tumor surgeries [17], for craniofacial surgeries [18], for orthognathic surgery [19], for kidney surgeries [20], for general surgery [21], and for heart surgery [22], to cite just some relevant studies.…”

Perfect combination of the expanded flap and 3D printing technology in reconstructing a child’s craniofacial region

“…Thus, 3D printing technology effectively guided the operative process, allowed accurate completion of the scheduled operative plan, and effectively shortened the operative time. Similarly, this approach not only avoided the body temperature loss, brain tissue swelling and wound hemorrhage caused by prolonged dural exposure during the operation but also reduced the surgical trauma [5]. Pre-expanding the scalp adjacent to the skull defect area and covering the skull repair material with expanded scalp flaps effectively prevented the exposure-related complications of repair with common materials and repaired the scar baldness.…”