Implementation of Industrial Additive Manufacturing: Intelligent Implants and Drug Delivery Systems.

Jan Akmal,Jouni Partanen,Mika Salmi,Roy Björkstrand,Antti Mäkitie

doi:10.3390/jfb9030041

Jan Akmal, Jouni Partanen + Show 3 more

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https://doi.org/10.3390/jfb9030041

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Abstract

The purpose of this study is to demonstrate the ability of additive manufacturing, also known as 3D printing, to produce effective drug delivery devices and implants that are both identifiable, as well as traceable. Drug delivery devices can potentially be used for drug release in the direct vicinity of target tissues or the selected medication route in a patient-specific manner as required. The identification and traceability of additively manufactured implants can be administered through radiofrequency identification systems. The focus of this study is to explore how embedded medication and sensors can be added in different additive manufacturing processes. The concept is extended to biomaterials with the help of the literature. As a result of this study, a patient-specific drug delivery device can be custom-designed and additively manufactured in the form of an implant that can identify, trace, and dispense a drug to the vicinity of a selected target tissue as a patient-specific function of time for bodily treatment and restoration.

Highlights

Additive manufacturing (AM), non-technically known as 3D printing, is a process in which material is added and joined typically on a layer-by-layer basis to make products using digital data of a 3D model, contrary to subtractive manufacturing and formative manufacturing methodologies [1]
Custom-made drug delivery systems were parametrically modeled allowing for seven input parameters related to the AM machine, geometry, and controlled release of medicine
Five inputs are required for parametric modeling of Radiofrequency identification (RFID) systems that allow for identification and digital storage of patient-specific information enabling the creation of a digital twin via Internet of Things (IoT)

Summary

Introduction

Additive manufacturing (AM), non-technically known as 3D printing, is a process in which material is added and joined typically on a layer-by-layer basis to make products using digital data of a 3D model, contrary to subtractive manufacturing and formative manufacturing methodologies [1]. The focus of this study is to extend the capability of AM in biomedical field via additively-manufacturing implants containing custom-designed drug delivery systems equipped with radiofrequency identification technologies for restoration of bodily harm. To this end, the composition of such a delivery system must be inert and compatible with the human body, which inevitably limits the use to biomaterials. According to the ISO/ASTM 52900:2015(en) standard, AM contains seven process categories that mainly differentiate each other through the techniques that they use for the layer-by-layer fabrication of their compatible materials. The use of additively-manufactured biomaterials must always be preceded with medical considerations

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