3D Printing of Low-Cost Synthetic Tissues

Surgical trainingrequires an understanding of the human body’scomplex3-dimensional anatomical structures and thespatial relationships of nerves, blood vessels and othervital structures.Learningthesespatial skills requires a lengthy training period and much practicethat usually takes placein the operatingroom while under thesupervision of a senior surgeon atgreat financial cost and potential riskto patients.3D printingis also valuablein providingvisualization of patient specific anatomy in a pre-operation setting.3D printing of an anatomically accuratesurgical trainingmodel requires thesimultaneous high-resolution deposition ofmultiplematerials,which match physiological geometry and mechanical properties. Thereis a distinct need for low cost, high-fidelity anatomically accuratesynthetic physical tissuemodels thatcan be used for surgical training, anatomyeducation, traumamedicine, and many other purposes.