3D printing applications in bone tissue engineering.

Area of Science:

• Biomaterials Science
• Regenerative Medicine
• Additive Manufacturing

Background:

• Bone defects significantly impact patient quality of life, driving demand for effective bone substitutes.
• Traditional treatments like transplantation have limitations for critical bone defects.
• Bone tissue engineering offers a promising alternative for bone defect repair.

Purpose of the Study:

• To review the applications of 3D printing in bone tissue engineering.
• To analyze the contributions, benefits, and steps of 3D printing in this field.
• To identify key advancements and applications of 3D printing for bone regeneration.

Main Methods:

• Bibliometric analysis of research articles from the Scopus database.
• Keywords used: "3D printing" and "bone tissue engineering".
• Identification and study of major applications and steps in 3D printing for bone tissue engineering.

Main Results:

• 3D printing enables innovative scaffold manufacturing for bone tissue engineering.
• A total of 257 relevant research articles were identified and analyzed.
• Ten significant applications of 3D printing in bone tissue engineering were identified and described.
• Five key advancements were noted when 3D printing is applied to bone tissue engineering.

Conclusions:

• 3D printing is crucial for fabricating patient-specific scaffolds for bone tissue engineering.
• Advanced binders create osteoconductive and bioactive scaffolds with mechanical strength.
• Medical imaging (CT, MRI) facilitates precise 3D printing of bone defect structures.
• 3D printing provides a novel approach for treating bone defects through porous scaffold manufacturing.