3D printing in gynecology and obstetrics

Introduction

The three-dimensional (3D) illustration technology developed throughout the 1980s, but it has made a huge progress over the last 10 years. While most of the printers have a commercial use, the 3D imaging and printing is a developing application, which helps doctors in diagnosis, therapeutic planning, and possibly the cure of patients with complicated diseases. The evolution has been significant especially during the last decade, walking toward thrilling evolution. The 3D printing, known as additives production, is a process of 3D total data use for the production of tactile natural objects from digitized models. This is accomplished through the setting of material consecutive levels like plastic, ceramic, or glass, which corresponds to a string of cross sections for the vulnerable 3D objects printing. The 3D printing was not only successfully used for the creation of additional limps, hearing aid, and dental devices but also for the development of regenerated tissues. Certain medical specialties focused on the technology use for the creation of customized implants through the illustration printing with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) or computerized tomography (CT), as well for the guidance of surgical approach with assessment of the patient's anatomy model.

3D printer types

There are numerous 3D printers, each one with its advantages and disadvantages. It is important to take the institutional targets into consideration, as well as the anticipated model use, depending on the medical specialty. The printers can be divided into two main groups. The first group consists of the printers that perform additional processes and the second one of the printers that execute reductive processes. The basic idea behind the 3D printing is that of the inkjet printer, which adds isolated ink dots to give an illustration, and a 3D printer adds material that is required by following orders of a digital file.

The technology of additive construction is performed on printers of different shapes and sizes regardless of the 3D printer type or the material used, whereas the 3D printing process follows the same basic steps. It starts with the creation of a 3D drawing from the object desired by the specialist, by using CAD (computer-aided design). The digital model could also emerge through the use of some 3D scanner or by downloading a file through the Internet.

The modeling printers with the fusion deposition method (FDM), widely known as material extrusion printers, belong to the common types of additional 3D illustration. A lot of FDM devices are able to print on different kinds of material like ABS, PLA, TPE/TPU, nylon fiber, soluble material, and polypropylene. The advantages of this kind of printer are its low cost, the low cost of the material, the available cords, and the spare parts, as well as the easy installation and use. Due to the quality of these devices, the really high analysis prints can be difficult, the printing time for complicated anatomic structures can be extremely high, and the options of the material and color are limited. To continue with, it is worth mentioning the selective laser sintering, the selective laser melting printers, and the melting printers with electron beams. These devices are similar to the printers SLA/DLP, by using resin. The sintering warms the material while maintaining the porosity. The melting warms the material further by making it a homogenous part. While the printers can produce models on materials that are available in the devices mentioned above, like the ceramics and other metals and alloys, their size and cost can be prohibitive for many healthcare institutions.

Simple printers are also available, including laminating object construction devices (LOM). With this technology, the thin material layers (paper, plastic, metal) are collided to each other and then cut with a thin blade or laser. More layers can be added later and the process is repeated until the model is fulfilled. The potential benefit of this technology is the variety of the materials that can be used. Some of these materials are very cheap and easily recycled, like paper. The LOM printers tend to be so big and expensive that they could limit the institutional use at the moment.