Advantages & Disadvantages of 3D printing in Medical Devices.

[Aniket Chaudhari]

3D printing process — that uses digital models to form physical devices out of materials like plastic and metallic powder. This is an excellent tool for medical device manufactures and it fabricates low-cost, custom-fit devices for patients as ordered by surgeon.
The digital printing technology is new, but it is being used in many areas and specifically some parts with complicated design where usual die casting method may not work. It is used in automobile industry to fabricate some complicated part with precise accuracy. It is because of this property its use to fabricate some custom-made implant based on requirement of patient as judged by doctor based on CT scan etc. The 3 D printer is now having software which can read scan and print part accordingly which can become exact fit for the patient.
Advantages -
1. PERSONLIZED MEDICAL DEVICES AND PATIENT-SPECIFIC IMPLANTS
As suggested above 3 D printed implant is easy to prepare as most of the precise work is done by printer based on CT Scan. In traditional technique one must cast die as per patient requirement which involves accurate CNC machine or skill of die caster and cost becomes high because it is made just for one part. While in 3 D printing this process is eliminated and accuracy is far better.Patient-specific 3D-printed tools and implants square measure already getting used in knee surgery, where surgeons at Yale Medicine have found that they speed up recovery and scale back patient pain levels.
2. JUST-IN-TIME PRODUCING APPROACH TO ON-DEMAND DEVICES
The speed of 3D printing means that it is attainable for manufactures to quickly produce devices in response to patient demand. ancient implants will take weeks to style and manufacture, particularly if they have to be tailored for a patient. 3D printing is already getting used to chop down the time required to create bone implants to as very little as attainable.
3D printing process can produce more than one type of implant based on size of implant and machine capacity in terms of dealing dimension of implants, in one run. This means that one can produce more than one customised implant (different types) in one run of printing.
3.FAST MEDICAL PROTOTYPING
Sometime doctor needs a prototype to check the exact fitting for patient by physically checking the prototype and suggest some changes if needed. The prototype is usually made from plastic which saves costly metal. Some medical device companies already use 3D printing to speedily develop and look at drug delivery devices, like inhalers and injectors. The accuracy needed for such devices are easy to get through this technology.
Disadvantages –
1.3D PRINTING ISNT ECO-FRIENDLY

One of the biggest disadvantages of this process is that it produces waste which is not often recycled at source. In one device print there are support and extra mass attached to printed part which need to be removed. Recovery at source is not that simple and often becomes expensive so it goes as waste. Thus, this is not so eco-friendly as compared to normal die casting.
2. RESTRICTED CHOICES OF 3D PRINTING MATERIAL
There are also some restrictions of use of some material as 3 D printing requires that material to go in liquid form and get deposited in layer by layer form. Very restricted type of metal and plastic can be used which are designed for that machine. However, this restriction will slowly reduce based on customer need and technology improvement. This restriction is limiting some material usage if not suitable for that specific machine.High cost of printer: Initial investment is quite high hence business proposition can work out on larger volume and enough demand. The Machine also need to be kept in certain environmental condition for it to work efficiently. This also involves cost of running and maintaining such environment.
3 QUALITY OF 3D-PRINTED OBJECTS
3 D printer works on computerised technique and all ills associated with that also comes in this technology too. Some variation due to variation caused by electrical or other disturbances, results into some unwanted bumps on surface which requires manual finish and cleaning before it can be made ready for use.