The Unprecedented Role of 3D Printing Technology in Fighting the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Comprehensive Review

Abstract

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) rapidly spread to over 180 countries and abruptly disrupted production rates and supply chains worldwide. Since then, 3D printing, also recognized as additive manufacturing (AM) and known to be a novel technique that uses layer-by-layer deposition of material to produce intricate 3D geometry, has been engaged in reducing the distress caused by the outbreak. During the early stages of this pandemic, shortages of personal protective equipment (PPE), including facemasks, shields, respirators, and other medical gear, were significantly answered by remotely 3D printing them. Amidst the growing testing requirements, 3D printing emerged as a potential and fast solution as a manufacturing process to meet production needs due to its flexibility, reliability, and rapid response capabilities. In the recent past, some other medical applications that have gained prominence in the scientific community include 3D-printed ventilator splitters, device components, and patient-specific products. Regarding non-medical applications, researchers have successfully developed contact-free devices to address the sanitary crisis in public places. This work aims to systematically review the applications of 3D printing or AM techniques that have been involved in producing various critical products essential to limit this deadly pandemic’s progression.

Personal protective equipment (PPE) litter in terrestrial urban areas of Iligan City, Philippines

“…As mentioned above, the most commonly collected PPE litters were facemasks. These results are similar to the studies in different Asian countries like Saudi Arabia (Hassan et al, 2022), India (Niranjan et al, 2022), Bangladesh (Rakib et al, 2021), and Iran (Hatami et al, 2021). Now, the matching key results of the aforementioned countries (Table 2) may be due to the mandatory wearing of facemasks, especially when going out in public spaces; It is evident in the table that all the studies have almost the same procedure for conducting the study, such as the habitual way of surveying (walking, following transects, photography, following health protocols, recording coordinates, and counting the litter) (Abedin et al, 2021).…”

Combining 3D Printing and Microfluidic Techniques: A Powerful Synergy for Nanomedicine

“…Using the COVID-19 pandemic as an example, it suddenly became clear that scientific research applied to public health urgently requires technologies capable of responding promptly to emergency health conditions [ 11 ]. A good example is the conversion of many companies that dealt with 3D printing in various industrial fields, which quickly converted to the production of readily available medical devices for the fight against the pandemic [ 123 ]. In addition, one of the most revolutionary innovations that the combination of MF and 3DP can bring is the ability to concentrate all laboratory operations, from the simplest to the most complex, in a small layout that can be self-produced in a short time.…”

Nanopore sequencing technology and its applications

“…Additionally, cost considerations must be taken into account when compared with RT‐PCR for SARS‐CoV‐2 diagnosis. Nanopore sequencing can obtain SARS‐CoV‐2 genome information while detecting the virus and has been widely used during the COVID‐19 pandemic 86–88 . Below, we will outline several advantages of nanopore sequencing for SARS‐CoV‐2 detection.…”