Three-dimensional Printing in Orthopedic Surgery: Current Applications and Future Developments

Three-dimensional (3D) printing technology has revolutionized how the authors examine, diagnose, and treat various medical conditions across a wide range of specialties. Synonymous with additive manufacturing, 3D printing fuses materials together layer by layer in 2-dimensional cross-sections to build the finished 3D product. This technology has proven superior to other manufacturing methods in certain instances because of its flexibility in the design process to create personalized products on demand. Within the field of orthopedics, 3D printing's popularity has been driven in part by its capacity to address difficult cases in which the design must meet unique anatomic or pathologic criteria. As its use has become more common, so have the ways in which the field has adapted 3D printing technology to improve patient care. This review outlines the basics of 3D printing technology and its current applications in orthopedics: anatomic models, noncustom implants, patient-specific instrumentation, and patient-specific implants. The authors then briefly summarize 3D bioprinting and how it could impact bone and cartilage restoration in the future.Editor's Note: I solicited this paper and have classified it as a Symposium Article after seeing Dr. Peterson present the subject at Duke Orthopaedic Surgery Department Grand Rounds. I thought it was an excellent update to the information contained in the September 2016 TIO symposium "3D Modeling, Printing and Biofabrication in Orthopaedic Surgery," guest edited by Kevin Tetsworth (vol 31 no 3).