Microstereolithography-Based Computer-Aided Manufacturing for Tissue Engineering

Various solid freeform fabrication technologies have been introduced for constructing three-dimensional (3-D) freeform structures. Of these, microstereolithography (MSTL) technology performs the best in 3-D space because it not only has high resolution, but also fast fabrication speed. Using this technology, 3-D structures with mesoscale size and microscale resolution are achievable. Many researchers have been trying to apply this technology to tissue engineering to construct medically applicable scaffolds, which require a 3-D shape that fits a defect with a mesoscale size and microscale inner architecture for efficient regeneration of artificial tissue. This chapter introduces the principles of MSTL technology and representative systems. It includes fabrication and computer-aided design/computer-aided manufacturing (CAD/CAM) processes to show the automation process by which measurements from medical images are used to fabricate the required 3-D shape. Then, various tissue engineering applications based on MSTL are summarized.