Robotic-assisted 3D bio-printing for repairing bone and cartilage defects through a minimally invasive approach

Lipskas, Julius and Deep, Kamal and Yao, Wei (2019) Robotic-assisted 3D bio-printing for repairing bone and cartilage defects through a minimally invasive approach. Scientific Reports, 9 (1). 3746. ISSN 2045-2322

Preview

Text (Lipskas-etal-SR-2019-Robotic-assisted-3D-bio-printing-for-repairing-bone-and-cartilage) Lipskas_etal_SR_2019_Robotic_assisted_3D_bio_printing_for_repairing_bone_and_cartilage.pdf Final Published Version License: Download (2MB)| Preview

Abstract

There is an unmet need for new techniques and methods of healing critical size tissue defects, by further reduction of invasiveness in implant, cell and tissue-based surgery. This paper presents the development of a new regenerative medicine that combines 3D bio-printing and robotic-assisted minimally invasive surgery techniques to meet this need. We investigated the feasibility of Remote Centre of Motion (RCM) and viscous material extrusion 3D printing. A hypothetical, intra-articular, regenerative medicine-based treatment technique for focal cartilage defects of the knee was used as a potential example of the application of 3D printing in vivo. The results of this study suggest, that RCM mechanism is feasible with viscous material extrusion 3D printing processes, without a major trade-off in imprint quality. The achieved printing accuracy at an average dimensional error of 0.06±0.14mm in this new modality of 3D printing is comparable to those described in literature for other types of bioprinting. Robotic assisted 3D bio-printing demonstrated here is a viable option for focal cartilage defect restoration.