A method of fabricating a casting, the method including applying a substrate to a sacrificial mold, the sacrificial mold including a shaped non-planar receiving surface to receive the substrate and provide a casting of the substrate having a shaped structure corresponding to the receiving surface; and subjecting the sacrificial mold and casting to freeze drying conditions and sublimating the sacrificial mold from the casting to form a cast article including the shaped non-planar structure.

A medical device includes a balloon expanded scaffold (or stent) crimped to a catheter having a balloon. The scaffold is crimped to the balloon by a process that includes using protective polymer sheaths or sheets during crimping, and resetting the sheaths or sheets during the crimping to avoid or minimize interference between the polymer material and scaffold struts as the scaffold is reduced in size. Balloon pressure is adjusted when the polymer material is reset.

Described are techniques for additive manufacturing of deformable objects. The techniques including a method comprising generating printing parameters for a deformable component. The method further comprises fabricating the deformable component by additive manufacturing, where a smart material is located at an articulation point of the deformable component, and where a base material is located at a static portion of the deformable component. The method further comprises supplying an environmental stimulus to the deformable component that causes the deformable component to transition from a first state to a second state.

A heart valve is at least partially constructed from a block-copolymer, the block-copolymer having a phase structure formed by its constituent blocks, and wherein the phase structure is arranged so as to produce anisotropic physical properties in the heart valve.

An internal tissue including a lesion region in the human body is modeled as a three-dimensional model. By reconstructing thickness or flexibility of a lumen wall portion including the lesion region and making it possible to confirm a motion of the lumen wall or a flow of fluid in the inside of the lumen wall, a state of the lesion region in the lumen can be confirmed clearly by visual inspection or the like. As a result, the diagnosis in the lumen can be made easier.

A method of forming a three-dimensional object, is carried out by (a) providing a carrier and a build plate, the build plate comprising a semipermeable member, the semipermeable member comprising a build surface with the build surface and the carrier defining a build region therebetween, and with the build surface in fluid communication by way of the semipermeable member with a source of polymerization inhibitor; (b) filling the build region with a polymerizable liquid, the polymerizable liquid contacting the build surface, (c) irradiating the build region through the build plate to produce a solid polymerized region in the build region, while forming or maintaining a liquid film release layer comprised of the polymerizable liquid formed between the solid polymerized region and the build surface, wherein the polymerization of which liquid film is inhibited by the polymerization inhibitor; and (d) advancing the carrier with the polymerized region adhered thereto away from the build surface on the build plate to create a subsequent build region between the polymerized region and the build surface while concurrently filling the subsequent build region with polymerizable liquid as in step (b). Apparatus for carrying out the method is also described.

The present invention relates generally to a method that is used to create three-dimensional synthetic vascular networks. Micromachining and molding techniques are used to create a template in a shape that mimics a biological network. Cellular material can be seeded around the template or a space created by the template and grown into an engineered tissue-construct.

A composite implant device for use in a medical application, comprising a synthetically-derived mesh that mimics particular critical aspects of a biologically-derived mesh. The composite implant device can be used for the reinforcement and reconstruction of tissues within the body and can be comprised of a majority of synthetic components and minority of naturally-derived components which mimic the structure and function of a naturally-derived mesh.

The present invention relates to a suspension comprising 50-95% by weight of the total suspension (w/w) of at least one metallic material and/or ceramic material and/or polymeric material and/or solid carbon containing material; and at least 5% by weight of the total suspension of one or more fatty acids or derivatives thereof. In addition, the invention relates to uses of such suspension in 3D printing processes.

A system and method for multi-modality fusion for 3D printing of a patient-specific organ model is disclosed. A plurality of medical images of a target organ of a patient from different medical imaging modalities are fused. A holistic mesh model of the target organ is generated by segmenting the target organ in the fused medical images from the different medical imaging modalities. One or more spatially varying physiological parameter is estimated from the fused medical images and the estimated one or more spatially varying physiological parameter is mapped to the holistic mesh model of the target organ. The holistic mesh model of the target organ is 3D printed including a representation of the estimated one or more spatially varying physiological parameter mapped to the holistic mesh model. The estimated one or more spatially varying physiological parameter can be represented in the 3D printed model using a spatially material property (e.g., stiffness), spatially varying material colors, and/or spatially varying material texture.