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Medical devices play a major role in all areas of modern medicine, largely contributing to the success of clinical procedures and to the health of patients worldwide. They span from simple commodity products such as gauzes and catheters, to highly advanced implants, e.g., heart valves and vascular grafts. In situ generated devices are an important family of devices that are formed at their site of clinical function that have distinct advantages. Among them, since they are formed within the body, they only require minimally invasive procedures, avoiding the pain and risks associated with open surgery. These devices also display enhanced conformability to local tissues and can reach sites that otherwise are inaccessible. This review aims at shedding light on the unique features of in situ generated devices and to underscore leading trends in the field, as they are reflected by key developments recently in the field over the last several years. Since the uniqueness of these devices stems from their in situ generation, the way they are formed is crucial. It is because of this fact that in this review, the medical devices are classified depending on whether their in situ generation entails chemical or physical phenomena.

Additive manufacturing, also known as 3D printing (3DP), is a fast growing technology in the last decades and has become the main driving force of the third industrial revolution. Rapid improvements, declining production costs, and an endless variety of options attract criminals to make use of 3DP as well. At the time this article was written, there were already a wide range of criminal uses of 3DP. Among the most worrying of its illicit uses is the creation of 3DP guns and other weapons [1,2]. One of the most famous guns produced using

Shape memory polymers (SMPs) based systems find technological applications in diverse areas such as soft robotics, biomedical devices and aerospace structures. The shape memory (SM) response of a custom-made, additively manufactured (AM) SMP structure can be triggered by a remote, contactless AC magnetic field, resulting in morphing of the structure. We developed AM architectures based on SM thermoset polymers loaded with magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs). Composite structures were prepared from a crosslinkable polycaprolactone dimethacrylate SMP matrix and iron oxide MNP filler. Additive manufacturing of these structures was carried out using these polymers loaded with MNP. Triggered morphing of these structures is achieved by an external alternating magnetic field; the MNP heat up, triggering the SM shape change of the polymer matrix. A variety of structures were AM by a careful choice of materials and process parameters and morphing behavior was demonstrated. This convergence of additive manufacturing technologies and structures prepared from SM thermoset polymers loaded with MNP demonstrates the feasibility of personalized, remotely triggered morphing components for advanced applications, e.g. soft robotics, biomedical devices and smart structural components in buildings.

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