Methodology for Image-driven High-resolution Additive Manufacturing Using Discretized Data Set

Additive manufacturing of patient-specific biomedical devices from 3D medical scans involves several steps of conversion which can introduce error into the final part. This is particularly critical to the fabrication of minute anatomical features, such as microvasculature. We show a direct conversion of the raw optical coherence tomography (OCT) volumetric data into photomasks in bitmap format, which streamlines the typical process steps used in 3D printing medical scans. OCT scans of rodent retinal microvasculature and projection microstereolithography are used to fabricate a solid vascular replica and a solid volume with hollow embedded microvessels.