Three-dimensional printing of external airway splints for tracheomalacia

Three-dimensional (3D) printing technology has been used to create personalized medical devices. There is growing interest in the use of 3D-printed biomaterials to create four-dimensional (4D) structure, such that the 3D-printed devices are engineered to adapt and change with tissue growth based on biomechanical and degradation properties over a specified time period (1).