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Rapid prototyping as a Tool for Designing and Manufacturing of Customised Anatomical Implants

RM Sherekar, AN Pawar, and SV Bhalerao

Rapid prototyping (RP) technologies are mostly related with applications in the product development and the design process as well as with small batch manufacturing. Due to their comparatively high rapidity and flexibility, however, they have also been engaged in various non-manufacturing applications. A field that attracts increasingly more attention by the scientific community is related to the application of technologies in medicine and health care. The associated research is focused both on the development of specifically customized or new methods and systems based on principles, as well as on the applications of existing systems assisting health care services. In this paper, representative case studies and research efforts from the field of medical applications are presented and discussed in detail. The case studies included cover applications like the fabrication of custom implants and scaffolds for rehabilitation, models for pre-operating surgical planning, anatomical models for the mechanical testing and investigation of human bones or of new medical techniques, drug delivery devices fabrication, as well as the development of new techniques specifically designed for medical applications