3D Printing promises to produce complex biomedical devices according to computer design using patient-specific anatomical data. Since its initial use as pre-surgical visualization models and tooling molds, 3D Printing has slowly evolved to create one-of-a-kind devices, implants, scaffolds for tissue engineering, diagnostic platforms, and drug delivery systems. Fueled by the recent explosion in ...

Although additive manufacturing technologies, also known as 3D printing, were first introduced in the 1980s, they have recently gained remarkable popularity owing to decreased costs. 3D printing has already emerged as a viable technology in many industries; in particular, it is a good replacement for microfabrication technology. Microfabrication technology usually requires expensive clean room ...

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES The objective of this study was to assess the clinical feasibility of generating 3D printing models of left atrial appendage (LAA) using real-time 3D transesophageal echocardiogram (TEE) data for preoperative reference of LAA occlusion. BACKGROUND Percutaneous LAA occlusion can effectively prevent patients with atrial fibrillation from stroke. However, the anatomical struc...

The technology of additive manufacturing – also known as ‘3D printing’ – holds the potential for revolutionising industrial production at all levels. Although the underlying techniques to build up physical items layer by layer from digital 3D design models have been in use since as early as 1986, only big companies could afford the necessary knowledge and equipment. Since 2008, things have chan...

We present an adaptive slicing scheme for reducing manufacturing time of 3D printing system. Based on a new saliency based metric, our method optimizes the thicknesses of slicing layers to save the printing time and preserve the visual quality of printing results. We formulate the problem as a constrained `0 optimization and compute the slicing result via a two-step optimization scheme. To furt...

The recent development of 3D printing techniques enables novel applications in customized food fabrication. Based on a tailor-made 3D food printer, we present a novel personalized food printing framework driven by portrait images. Unlike common 3D printers equipped with materials such as ABS, Nylon and SLA, our printer utilizes edible materials such as maltose, chocolate syrup, jam to print cus...

We compare the maximum read range of passive ultra high frequency (UHF) radio frequency identification (RFID) tags that have been produced using different metal printing techniques, specifically inkjet printing and thermal transfer printing. We used the same substrate (THERMLfilm), antenna designs, and electronic circuitry in our comparison so as to isolate the effect of the metal printing. Due...

Bone replacement materials used in tissue engineering require a high degree of safety and biological compatibility. For these reasons synthetic bone replacement materials based on calcium-phosphates are being used more widely. To mimic natural bone, rapid prototyping processes and especially 3D printing are favourable. Using 3D printing, complex 3 dimensional structures can be made easily. In t...