| Abstract Scope |
Craniofacial defects (CFD) are among the most common bone defects resulting from trauma, inflammation and infection, congenital deformities, and tumor resections, with bone autograft as the standard of care. Synthetic bone substitutes, i.e., scaffolds, are an emerging solution to address the limited resources and technical challenges associated with autografts. In this study porous scaffolds with different pore sizes (500, 650 and 800 µm) and size gradients are 3D printed using digital light projection (DLP) with slurries prepared from the polylactic acid (PLA) resin blended with various ratios of hydroxyapatite (HA), for purpose of cranial bone regeneration. After 3D printing, the mechanical properties, shape fidelity, biocompatibility, and degradation rates of the scaffolds are measured. From the measured results the effects of pore size, size gradient, and the ratio of HA are analyzed. |