3D Bioplotter Research Papers

Patients with chronic stenosis of their ear canal may benefit from additively manufactured individualized drug containing external ear canal implants (EECI) [1] that keep the ear canal open and support the healing of the affected tissue. To guarantee the safety of the patients, the sterilization of implants is important. Autoclaving is a fast and well-established sterilization method, but the heat of the process may damage any drug contained within the implants. To evaluate the suitability of autoclaving EECIs, we tested samples for bio-efficacy and the released drug amount within 3 days.

For treating idiopathic sudden sensorineural hearing loss, prednisolone is commonly used. However, systemic or middle ear injections often lead to insufficient drug delivery to the inner ear, causing ineffective treatment and systemic side effects. An implant inserted into the middle ear and delivering the drug directly to the inner ear offers a promising solution, providing controlled, long-term drug release with potentially better efficacy and fewer side effects. Individualized implants made of prednisolone-containing silicone can optimize inner ear treatment by fitting the patient’s middle ear anatomy. To gauge the properties of prednisolone-21-hydrogen succinate containing silicone, samples with different geometries and drug…

The regular way to determine the in vitro release rates of drugs from implantable drug delivery systems consists of the complete immersion of the implant into a medium. The medium surrounds the implant, and the diffusion of the drugs occurs across the whole implant surface directly into the medium. This method does not accurately model the release rates if the real diffusion only happens across only one part of the surface of the implant, through a membrane, and into a small volume of medium. It also does not address the anatomical shape of the studied structure. One example for this…