Resorbable Polymer-Based Additive Manufacturing Techniques for Bioimplants
摘要
With the advancement of biomedical technology, bioimplants are commonly used in surgeries as a replacement for tissues and organs. Whereas, in some cases, the implants have to be removed from the body for the growth of bone and tissues. If the implants are not removed, it might lead to serious health hazards. In this case, non-degradable implants can be replaced with resorbable implants, that automatically degrade within the body with a prescribed degradation rate. These resorbable implants eliminate the necessity of a second surgery of implant removal, which simplifies the operation procedure compared to the conventional methods. Additionally, additive manufacturing (AM) has revolutionized the biomedical field due to its ability to fabricate patient specific implants. Several biocompatible polymers have been used for the AM of resorbable implants with varying degradation kinetics. In the following section, some of the state-of-the-art resorbable polymers and their composites for AM-based biomedical implants have been discussed for diverse applications in dental, orthopedic, cardiac implants, etc. Further, their different degradation behavior and mechanisms of degradation are discussed.