An Abbreviated History of Medical 3D Printing

Introduction

Three-dimensional (3D) printing technologies are now entering their fourth decade of use and many medical applications now are very well established and optimized. Despite this, many in the medical field are surprised to hear that 3D printing is not relatively new. This chapter is not an exhaustive look at every development along the timeline for medical 3D printing but instead meant to point out some major milestones which have led us to the state-of-the-art today.

The basis of much of the work done with 3D printing in medicine is surrounding personalization of surgery. This goes all the way back to the beginning and continues today. Personalization typically relies on use of volumetric medical imaging data, allowing the therapy to truly be personalized to the individual patient. Flexibility, complexity of design, and lot sizes of one make 3D printing a good fit for support of the tools, guides, models, and implants which make up the world of personalized surgery. If we consider the medical 3D printing technologies and applications as the toolbox, many pioneering engineers, surgeons, and others contributed to the creation of the tools in the toolbox. Over time the toolbox has continuously expanded by way of software tools, hardware tools, material tools, and workflows which combine these tools in specific ways to solve specific clinical problems. 3D printing has significantly altered several key areas of medicine including craniomaxillofacial surgery, orthopedic surgery, and beyond.