Three-dimensional (3D) printing and its applications for aortic diseases

Three-dimensional (3D) printing is a rapidly expanding field in medicine. Originally developed in the 1980s, the technology has largely been used in the manufacturing industry until more recently as clinicians and researchers have been applying 3D printing to the medical field (1,2). One of the advantages of 3D printing is the use of additive manufacturing, where consecutive layering of two-dimensional (2D) slices are combined together to form a 3D object (3). This allows for translation of intricate, complex designs using a variety of materials including plastic, metal, wax, rubber, and biomaterial (3,4). It also allows models to be custom made at a relatively low cost without the need for expensive molds or casts (3). The models are derived from 3D reconstructed images, printed, and can be used for surgical planning, such as an endovascular abdominal aortic aneurysm repair (Figure 1). There are variety of current and developing uses for the treatment of vascular disease including the creation of models for surgical planning (5-7), education and training (8,9), and vascular device and tissue engineering (10,11)