Building the basis for patient-specific meniscal scaffolds: From human knee MRI to fabrication of 3D printed scaffolds

Fast Setting Silk Fibroin Bioink for Bioprinting of Patient‐Specific Memory‐Shape Implants

“…The nozzle size had 400 µm of diameter and the 3D scaffolds were constructed using pressures ranging from 250 to 350 kPa at a speed of 5 to 8 mm s −1 . The SF patient‐specific memory‐shape implants of human meniscus were printed through a reverse engineering approach using a semi‐automatic methodology of segmenting meniscus tissue from volumetric MRI datasets and reconstruction of 3D models with an advanced segmentation software . The scaffolds and implants were further frozen at −80 °C for 2 d and freeze‐dried for 3 d (Telstar‐Cryodos‐80, Spain).…”

“…In Tissue Engineering (TE) field, 3D printing brings several advantages since it can provide reproducibility of the produced implants. Also, it allows the production of patient‐specific implants that closely mimic the native tissue to regenerate in terms of size, shape, mechanical performance, and biodegradability, which can help to improve patient recovery time and to restore biofunctionality . In addition, 3D printing can improve biomimetism of the produced implants, that has been shown to be tremendously relevant for their biomechanical and biofunctional performance .…”

“…In Figure d(v,vi); Movie S1 in the Supporting Information, the printing of a patient‐specific memory‐shape human meniscus implant is also shown. For printing this type of personalized implants, a 3D model of human meniscus was previously obtained by our group through an advanced segmentation method from knee magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) . Considering the bioprinting needs for a hydrogel, we believe that a very good spatial resolution of the printed objects was achieved, with a consistent resolution and fidelity comparing with previous results .…”

3D Segmentation of Intervertebral Discs: From Concept to the Fabrication of Patient-Specific Scaffolds

“…Current TE strategies consider that constructs need to have other properties besides mimicking the extracellular matrix (ECM) of the tissues to 3D segmentation of intervertebral discs: from concept to the fabrication of patientspecific scaffolds be regenerated. The importance of developing patientspecific scaffolds is gaining a new impetus [22,23]. The need for having patient-specific IVD scaffolds is evident, given the fact that the size and shape of IVDs vary from patient to patient, and within a patient they vary within the p osition in the spine [1,24].…”

“…3D reconstructions of anatomical structures are indispensable for medical diagnosis, visualization as well as 3D printing of patient-specific implants [22,26,27]. The process of 3D reconstruction of all the relevant tissues is based on the segmentation of medical imaging data.…”