| abstract |
Disclosed are various systems and processes for fabricating custom medical devices through a free-form, reversible embedding process of suspended hydrogels. The mechanical properties of the fabricated object can be controlled by the manner in which the structural material is deposited on the support material or the orientation and three-dimensional movement of the extruder assembly. Moreover, the dimensions of the fabricated object can be verified by adding a contrast agent to the structural material, obtaining a three-dimensional reconstruction of the assembled object, and then comparing the three-dimensional reconstruction with a computer model on which the fabricated object is based. These and other techniques are described herein. |