Updates in medical 3D printing

Medical 3D printing has been gaining attention from the scientific community with an increasing numbers of publications reported in the literature in the past years. Steady technological advances allow manufacturing of 3D parts using materials as diverse as polymers, metals, ceramics and biomaterials, thus enabling a wide spectrum of applications. On the one hand, 3D printed parts are used to create anatomical models for planning complex surgical or interventional procedures, for advanced medical education and for R&D of novel surgical tools, medical devices and implants. On the other hand, 3D printing is employed to address basic research questions in the field of tissue engineering and regenerative medicine. As with many interdisciplinary growing topics, the full potential of this topic has not been reached also because there is no focused group that pushes this field further.

The goal of this Research Topic is to provide a comprehensive update on all the facets of medical 3D printing, particularly it will address the technological manufacturing aspects, the clinical research problems as well as the basic research problems, and the implementation aspects of in-hospital “daily” use of 3D printing.