Recent advances in three-dimensional printing in cardiovascular devices: Bench and bedside applications

Three-dimensional (3D) printing is emerging as an innovative technology, which is widely used in cardiovascular disease at bench and bedside. During the last decade, with the development of 3D printing industry, many 3D printed models have been used in clinic, because it can provide the advantage of haptic feedback, direct manipulation, and enhanced doctors’ understanding of cardiovascular anatomy and underlying pathologies. In addition to the preparation of 3D printed models, 3D printing technology also shows great application potential in cardiovascular regenerative medicine because it has the advantages of integrating cells, cytokines and materials. Although cardiovascular regenerative medicine application still has a gap between bench and bedside, this gap is gradually narrowing with the development of new materials and new technology of 3D printing recently. In this review, we firstly analyze the characteristics and clinical needs of cardiovascular diseases, and introduce the concept and category of 3D printing technology. Secondly, we summarize the application of 3D printed models, stents, vascular graft, vascular network, and heart organs at bench and bedside. In the end, we discuss the challenges and future perspectives of 3D printing in cardiovascular diseases.