Additive manufacturing of patient-specific high-fidelity and thickness-controlled cerebral aneurysm geometries

Abstract

Additive Manufacturing (AM) offers unique advantages in rapidly fabricating highly complex and highly customized geometries; which suits very well for patient-specific medical applications. AM has been explored for a wide range of medical needs such as prosthetics, implants, surgical guides, and medical education. In particular, there is a growing need to leverage AM processing for achieving high-fidelity 3D biomimicry models to better understand critical physiological responses for clinical needs. In this study, a new design-manufacturing-evaluation workflow is presented and validated to manufacture complex optically clear and compliant 3D geometries that account for physiologically relevant conditions (i.e., 400 µm wall thickness at 100 mmHg) through an integrated AM (Vat Photopolymerization) and silicone molding technique. This study aims to establish the workflow by developing high-fidelity 3D intracranial aneurysm (IA) geometries using patient-specific data. The digital light processing (DLP) method was employed to create thin-walled shells for silicone molding. The samples created were successful in reproducing compliant, optically-clear aneurysms that can be used in in vitro studies. Findings from this study can be used to better understand the long-term growth effects of aneurysms, the causes for their sudden ruptures, and help develop potential prevention methods and treatments.