Abstract
Additive manufacturing (AM) is rapidly gaining acceptance in the healthcare sector. Three-dimensional (3D) virtual surgical planning, fabrication of anatomical models, and patient-specific implants (PSI) are well-established processes in the surgical fields. Polyetheretherketone (PEEK) has been used, mainly in the reconstructive surgeries as a reliable alternative to other alloplastic materials for the fabrication of PSI. Recently, it has become possible to fabricate PEEK PSI with Fused Filament Fabrication (FFF) technology. 3D printing of PEEK using FFF allows construction of almost any complex design geometry, which cannot be manufactured using other technologies. In this study, we fabricated various PEEK PSI by FFF 3D printer in an effort to check the feasibility of manufacturing PEEK with 3D printing. Based on these preliminary results, PEEK can be successfully used as an appropriate biomaterial to reconstruct the surgical defects in a “biomimetic” design.
Highlights
Reconstructive surgeries can be extremely challenging even to the most experienced surgeon especially due to complex anatomy, sensitivity of the involved systems, and uniqueness of each defect [1]
The technologies, such as additive manufacturing (AM) known as rapid prototyping (RP) or three-dimensional (3D) printing, are robustly growing and have positively influenced the biomedical sector over the last decade allowing the surgeons and researchers to utilize them in manufacturing objects [5, 6]
The fabrication results showed that the 3D printed PEEK Patientspecific implant (PSI) were of a smooth finish without any irregularities
Summary
Reconstructive surgeries can be extremely challenging even to the most experienced surgeon especially due to complex anatomy, sensitivity of the involved systems, and uniqueness of each defect [1]. The need to fabricate the PSI has led to many innovations and technological advancements in the field of medicine [3, 4] The technologies, such as additive manufacturing (AM) known as rapid prototyping (RP) or three-dimensional (3D) printing, are robustly growing and have positively influenced the biomedical sector over the last decade allowing the surgeons and researchers to utilize them in manufacturing objects [5, 6]. The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) increased their approval of 3D printed implants under the 510k (premarket notification) approval system This will allow the healthcare providers to use the parts manufactured by AM in routine and for complex surgical procedures [2, 9]
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