Mr. Sunil is diagnosed with kidney failure and needs a transplant to survive. The treating physician gets a kidney 3D-printed and transplants it into Mr. Sunil's body. Does the situation feel like a Steven Spielberg science fiction movie? Well,…it might be a fiction today but would become a reality in the near future.

Three-dimensional (3D) printing, also known as additive manufacturing (AM), rapid prototyping (RP), or solid free-form technology (SFF) is a manufacturing process for producing a 3D object. 3D objects are formed by fusing or depositing material like plastic, metal, ceramics, liquids or even living cells in layers. 3D printing is revolutionizing healthcare with its rapidly expanding applications.

 3D printing is a transformative tool in medicine. It has the potential to make medicine and healthcare affordable, accessible and personalized.Since early 2000, 3D printing is being used in medicine. It was first used for manufacturing dental implants and custom prosthetics. Later its application expanded rapidly. 

3D printing in medicine can provide many benefits, like customization and personalization of medical products, drugs, and equipment, Increased cost efficiency, Enhanced productivity, Democratization of design and manufacturing, Enhanced collaboration, Use of 3D printing in medicine is expanding rapidly but this technology has to overcome scientific and regulatory challenges to evolve.
 

3D- Printed organs for transplant

Tissue or organ failure is a critical issue; it can be resolved by organ transplantation. However, there is a shortage of organ donors and additional problem is probability of organ rejection. Tissue engineering and regenerative medicine is being used as a solution to this as they use stem cells to grow a tissue. 3D printing can be a potential substitute to tissue engineering due to advantages like highly precise cell placement and high digital control of speed, resolution, cell concentration, drop volume, and diameter of printed cells. Though bioprinting is in initial stages of development many studies verified that it has a practical potential.

3D-printed organs along with its blood supply

Most of the organs produced by bioprinting are simple, avascular, aneural, alymphatic, thin, or hollow. They get nourishment from host vasculature by diffusion. For diffusion, cells should not be more than 100-200 micron meters away from nearest capillary. Limited diffusion is the reason why complex organs with more thickness cannot be produced in labs. But most organs needed for transplantation are complex like kidney, heart and liver. So it is very important to print vasularisation in fabricated organs, which is not yet done. Tissue engineering approach is not capable of creating complex vascularized organs but bioprinting has a potential to resolve this critical limitation.

Implants and prostheses tailored to the need

One of the advantages of 3D printing is producing complex customized implants and prostheses of good quality. Implants and Prostheses of any geometry can be created by converting two-dimensional (2D) radiographic images, such as x-rays, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), or computerized tomography (CT) scans to digital 3D print files.

3D models as diagnostic aids and surgical work-up

3D anatomical model gives more information than 2D sources and helps the physician in accurately diagnosing and treating the patients. Customized 3D models help the physician in planning and practicing the operation. For students, 3D models of molecular structures helps in better conceptualization. It helps in surgical consent process as it is easy to explain the patient and caretakers about what is actually done in surgery using 3D models.

Drug dosing and dosage form customized to the patient

3D printing can be used to produce personalized medications. Personalised drug dosing is beneficial in patients with pharmacogentic polymorphism or who use medications with narrow therapeutic indices. By analyzing the pharmacogenetic profile and other characteristics such as age, race, or gender, optimum medication dose is determined. Then the medication can be printed and dispensed using a 3D printing system. For a patient with multiple chronic diseases, all medications can be printed in one multidose form so that a single tablet can treat them.

3D printing can be used to produce unique dosage forms. In this process inkjet-based 3D printing technology is used to create limitless dosage forms which are likely to challenge conventional drug fabrication process. 3D printing is already used to produce novel dosage forms such as microcapsules, nanosuspensions etc.

Regulation of drug release in the body

3D printing is used to produce medications with a complex drug-release profile. Controlled drug release medication can be prepared by printing binder onto a matrix powder bed in layers, this creates a barrier between the active ingredients to facilitate controlled drug release and allow us to study variation in drug release. 3D printing can also be used for producing implantable drug delivery devices with novel drug-release profiles