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Updated: Dec 21, 2025
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Published on: May 19, 2022
Intraoperative Bioprinting: Repairing Tissues and Organs in a Surgical Setting
Yang Wu1, Dino J Ravnic2, Ibrahim T Ozbolat3
1School of Mechanical Engineering and Automation, Harbin Institute of Technology, Shenzhen 518055, China; Engineering Science and Mechanics Department, The Pennsylvania State University, State College, PA 16801, USA; The Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences, The Pennsylvania State University, State College, PA 16801, USA.
Abstract:
3D bioprinting directly into injured sites in a surgical setting, intraoperative bioprinting (IOB), is an effective process, in which the defect information can be rapidly acquired and then repaired via bioprinting on a live subject. In patients needing tissue resection, debridement, traumatic reconstruction, or fracture repair, the ability to scan and bioprint immediately following surgical preparation of the defect site has great potential to improve the precision and efficiency of these procedures. In this opinion article, we provide the reader with current major limitations of IOB from engineering and clinical points of view, as well as possibilities of future translation of bioprinting technologies from bench to bedside, and expound our perspectives in the context of IOB of composite and vascularized tissues.
