Aim: To develop a methodology for producing patient-specific scaffolds that mimic the annulus fibrosus (AF) of the human intervertebral disc by means of combining MRI and 3D bioprinting. Methods: In order to obtain the AF 3D model from patient’s volumetric MRI dataset, the RheumaSCORE segmentation software was used. Polycaprolactone scaffolds with three different internal architectures were fabricated by 3D bioprinting, and characterized by microcomputed tomography. Results: The demonstrated methodology of a geometry reconstruction pipeline enabled us to successfully obtain an accurate AF model and 3D print patient-specific scaffolds with different internal architectures. Conclusion: The results guide us toward patient-specific intervertebral…
The current strategies for the transplantation of meniscus should be strengthened to tackle the faced limitations of current methods in the clinics. One of the limitations is that current implants are not patient-specific. There is, therefore, a pressing need in the clinics to develop patient-specific implants. The aim of this study was to demonstrate a semi-automatic way of segmenting meniscus tissues from patients’ volumetric knee magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) datasets in order to obtain patient-specific 3D models for 3D printing of patient-specific constructs. High-quality MRI volumetric images were acquired from five healthy male human subjects. The advanced segmentation software, RheumaSCORE,…