Rapid Prototyping (RP) is an expression that is used for defining a set of technologies that have as a common characteristic the building of 3D physical prototypes, layer-by-layer, from their analogue virtual prototypes. The layer-by-layer building approach allows obtaining high complex shapes which cannot be obtained by the current most usual technologies based on material subtraction. A brief review about RP and its applications in the health domain is presented. A special mention is dedicated to the PROMED (PR in Medicine) - a non-profit research, development and knowledge diffusion project - focused on RP applied to medicine. Also it is reviewed the application of SLS - Selective Laser Sintering - for tissue engineering scaffolds and the most recent technologies for direct metal prototyping for building metal customized implants. Finally it is shown preliminary results of experiments to build scaffolds with PHB poly (hidroxy butirate) and nylon utilizing a SLS machine.
Scaffolds; tissue engineering; rapid prototyping; SLS; PHB
