Medical Applications of Rapid Prototyping Technology

Rapid Prototyping (RP) has turned out to be an evolutionary technology in the medical and healthcare field. Technology is constantly getting evolved resulting in advanced applications in various domains of the healthcare industry. The use of RP and medical advancements are complementing each other in offering better services to the patients. In this context, this paper presents an overview of various rapid prototyping techniques which are collectively called additive manufacturing processes. The wide spread potential of RP in various medical applications such as prosthesis and implant development, surgical planning, modern drug delivery systems, tissue engineering and medical models and devices is also presented. Moreover, the case studies discussed in the paper show the use of RP in overcoming the complexities and anomalies in human anatomy. The aim is to present the capabilities of the RP technique with the help of reviewed literature and discuss the associated challenges.