Role and Challenges of Bioprinting in Bone Tissue Engineering

Abstract

Bone grafting is a type of surgery for reconstructing damaged and defective bones by medical professionals. But the surgery is very complex and challenging as it needs precise and accurate skills of the medical professionals, and it is costly and time-consuming. The grafted bone size and shape should match the targeted area. To overcome these challenges, bioprinting comes into play. By using bioprinting technology, the exact structure that is to be fitted in the targeted location can be fabricated by scanning the target using a 3D scanner or taking medical images like MRI or CT scan and then reverse engineering the same structure needed for the target location using bioprinting technology, which ultimately improves the patient's quality of life and satisfaction. In this chapter, various types of bioprinting types for bone scaffold fabrication, the materials which are used for fabricating bone scaffolds like bioceramic, metals, and polymers are described as well as the limitations and challenges are described briefly.