KR101728773B1 - Artificial medical tube using three-dimensional printing structure and the manufacturing method of the same - Google Patents

Abstract

Preparing a dissolvable or degradable structure, which is the same or similar type of support as the medical artificial tube, using a three-dimensional printer; Coating a solution of a polymer having physical or chemical properties different from the structure on the surface of the soluble or degradable structure; And dissolving or decomposing the structure, and allowing the coated polymer solution to remain in the form of a solid, thereby obtaining a medical artificial hollow tube, and a method for manufacturing a medical artificial hollow tube using the three dimensional printing structure do.
The present invention proposes a structure for supporting a support for supporting an artificial tube such as a blood vessel, a neural tube, a small intestine, a bile duct or the like using a three-dimensional printing technique, and it is expected that the effect of facilitating the manufacture of a customized artificial tube for each patient based on the structure .

Description

Technical Field [0001] The present invention relates to a medical artificial tube using a three-dimensional printing structure and a manufacturing method thereof,

The present invention relates to a method for manufacturing a medical artificial tube, and more particularly, to a method for manufacturing a medical artificial tube, which comprises the steps of: preparing a soluble sacrificial structure as a support for a medical artificial tube by using a 3D printing technique; The present invention relates to a method of manufacturing a medical artificial tube using a three-dimensional printing structure capable of dissolving a structure to easily manufacture a tissue for a human body such as a blood vessel, a neural tube, a bile duct or the like artificially.

Generally, 3D printing is used in various fields such as medical, education, design, and machinery by shaping objects in three dimensions.

The development of materials and modeling technology makes it possible to fabricate structures that can replace sophisticated body tissues, and its sophistication is evaluated at a very high level.

In particular, various attempts have been made to fabricate a medical artificial structure such as a long-term tissue using a three-dimensional printing technique.

As an example of 3D printing being used in the medical field, Korean Patent No. 10-1349356 'A device for manufacturing a tooth straightener using a 3D printer (hereinafter referred to as' Prior Art 1') has been registered.

Prior Art 1 designs a tooth corrector from a patient's scan data using a 3D CAD program of a tooth corrector designing unit, and uses a shape memory polymer and an elastic titanium material as a material in accordance with tooth corrector design information through a 3D printer unit It is a device that can manufacture a tooth straightener by automatically processing a tooth straightener.

That is, since the patient's orthodontist is automatically manufactured through the orthodontic appliance design unit and the 3D printer apparatus unit, the manufacturing error of the orthodontic appliance is minimized, the manufacturing time of the orthodontic appliance is reduced, and the manufacturing cost of the orthodontic appliance is reduced can do.

In this way, it is possible to produce an elaborate medical device through 3D printing, as well as an artificial tissue that can replace the body tissue.

The manufacture of artificial tissue is described in Korean Patent No. 10-1506704 entitled " Prior Art 2 ", a porous scaffold for high-density polyethylene-based facial implantation by 3D printing and a method for manufacturing the same .

The prior art 2 can accurately shape the intended scaffold by forming the porous scaffold into a three-dimensional shape by 3D printing, and it is possible to freely adjust the size and shape of the pore, thereby improving the osseointegration have.

As described above, the three-dimensional printing technology has been widely used in the medical field, and alternate methods for organ organs other than organs are under research and development.

However, the structure output from the three-dimensional printer is easy to produce in a bulk form. In particular, it is almost impossible to fabricate a tubular body having a thickness of micro unit, and a thin tube structure such as blood vessels, neural tubes, small intestines, It is hard to find a case to make.

That is, if the tube structure is fabricated to have a thickness of approximately 30 to 70 μm, it can function as an artificial tube with flexibility, but since the thickness of the minimum unit strand outputable from the three-dimensional printer is approximately 100 to 200 μm, Currently, there is a need for a new technique for fabricating an artificial tube using a 3D printer.

1. Korean Patent No. 10-1349356 2. Korean Patent No. 10-1506704

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a method and apparatus for outputting a structure required for supporting tissue of a human body, such as a blood vessel, a neural tube, And to provide a method for manufacturing a medical artificial tube using a three-dimensional printing structure capable of easily manufacturing a customized artificial tube for each patient based on the structure.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a method for manufacturing a medical artificial tube using a three-dimensional printing structure which can improve the convenience and safety of operation as well as dramatically reduce the side effects after the operation because it is possible to manufacture a customized artificial tube for each patient .

It is still another object of the present invention to provide a method for manufacturing a medical artificial tube using a three-dimensional printing structure capable of preventing the side effects due to selective restriction of a material by ensuring diversity of materials for man-made tubes and man- There is.

It is still another object of the present invention to provide a three-dimensional printing structure capable of easily manufacturing a multi-branched channel structure, that is, a multi-branched tube structure, And a method for manufacturing a medical artificial tube.

It is still another object of the present invention to provide a medical artificial tube manufacturing method using a three-dimensional printing structure for eliminating or alleviating flow obstructing factors caused by the lamination texture by alleviating the lamination texture of an artificial tube supporting structure manufactured from 3D printing Method.

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a method of manufacturing a medical artificial tube, comprising the steps of: preparing a dissolvable or degradable structure, which is a support in the same or similar form as a medical artificial tube using a three-dimensional printer; Coating a solution of a polymer having physical or chemical properties different from the structure on the surface of the soluble or degradable structure; And dissolving or decomposing the structure, and simultaneously allowing the coated polymer solution to remain in a solid form, thereby obtaining a medical artificial tube. The present invention also provides a method for manufacturing a medical artificial tube using the three-dimensional printing structure .

Preferably, the structure is fabricated on the basis of three-dimensional data provided from at least one selected from ultrasound imaging, computed tomography (CT) imaging, and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).

The physical properties are preferably melting points.

It is preferable that the chemical property is a thermal or chemical decomposition point.

It is preferable that the structure is formed in any one of a bulk, a hollow and a porous intermediate form.

When the structure is in the form of a bulk or a porous intermediate, the structure is coated and then the structure is exposed from the coated both ends thereof to dissolve the structure in such a manner that the solvent can permeate into the interior It is preferable to

When the structure is in the form of a hollow or porous intermediate, it is preferable that the structure is coated and then the both ends of the structure are penetrated to dissolve the structure by forced flow of the solvent.

When the structure is in the form of a hollow or porous intermediate stage, the structure is coated and then processed into a shape in which one end is penetrated to draw the solvent through the penetrated region to dissolve the structure .

It is preferable that the structure has a stem portion and a branch portion, and both end portions of the stem portion and the end portions of the branch portion are penetrated after the structure is coated.

The coating may be performed by dip coating the structure in a water tank containing the polymer solution, or spray coating the polymer solution onto the structure. And evaporating the solvent from the polymer solution coated on the surface of the structure.

Preferably, the structure further comprises a processing step for reducing or eliminating the lamination texture formed on the surface by the three-dimensional printing before the coating step.

It is preferable that the layered structure is relaxed or removed by exposure to a solvent at 40 to 90 캜, and the solvent dissolves the structure but does not dissolve the coating material formed on the surface thereof.

It is preferable that the supporting structure is dissolved by ultrasonic cleaning in a water tank containing the solvent or forced inflow of the fluid into the inside of the structure.

Also, the present invention provides a medical artificial hollow tube manufactured using a three-dimensional printing structure, which is manufactured by the above-described method.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, a tube structure for a human body such as a blood vessel, a neural tube, a small intestine tube, and a bile duct is manufactured using a three-dimensional printing technique, and a tailored artificial tube for each patient is easily manufactured Can be expected.

The present invention can be used to manufacture a customized artificial tube, which can be expected to greatly improve the convenience of the procedure, safety and post-procedure side effects.

The present invention can be expected to have an effect of preventing the side effects due to the restriction of the selection of the material because the diversity of the selection of the material for the artificial pipe can be ensured by customized manufacture of the artificial tube.

In the present invention, it is expected that the manufacturing of an artificial pipe can easily produce not only a single pipe-shaped pipe structure, but also a multi-branch flow passage structure, that is,

The present invention can be expected to reduce or alleviate flow obstructing factors caused by the lamination texture by alleviating the lamination texture of the artificial tube support structure manufactured from 3D printing.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Fig. 1 is a flowchart showing a manufacturing method according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention,
FIG. 2 is a detailed view of a surface of a structure to explain a laminated structure according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention,
FIG. 3 is a process diagram illustrating a third step of forming an artificial tube according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention. FIG.
FIG. 4 is a process diagram illustrating a fourth step of collecting an artificial tube according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention. FIG.
FIG. 5 is a process diagram illustrating a fourth step of collecting an artificial tube according to another preferred embodiment of the present invention. FIG.
6 is a process diagram illustrating a fourth step of collecting an artificial tube according to another preferred embodiment of the present invention.

Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. In the following description of the present invention, a detailed description of known functions and configurations incorporated herein will be omitted when it may make the subject matter of the present invention rather unclear.

In describing the present invention, the defined terms are defined in consideration of the function of the present invention, and it can be changed according to the intention or custom of the technician working in the field, and the definition is based on the contents throughout this specification It should be reduced.

1 is a flowchart illustrating a method of manufacturing a medical artificial tube according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

As shown in the drawings, the present invention relates to a method for manufacturing an artificial pipe, which comprises: first preparing a soluble or degradable (sacrificial) structure using a three-dimensional printing technique, and applying a polymer solution having physically or chemically different properties It is possible to artificially manufacture a thin tube tissue in the body such as a blood vessel, a neural tube, a bile duct or the like by dissolving or decomposing the structure, and in particular, To produce an artificial tube based on the individual information of the tube. Therefore, it is possible to manufacture a customized medical artificial tube suitable for the characteristics of the patient.

The artificial tube includes a first step of collecting information on the tube tissue necessary for the patient, a second step of constructing the structure based on the tube structure, a third step of solidifying the polymer solution on the structure surface to form the artificial tube, And a fourth step of dissolving or decomposing the structure and collecting the artificial tube from the structure.

The first step is collecting information about the internal structure of the body of the patient. Information gathering includes ultrasound imaging, computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) Magnetic Resonance Imaging) to identify the patient's vascular structure. Here, the first step is not necessarily required, and may be omitted if individual customization is not required.

In addition, the information collection method is not limited to ultrasound, CT, and MRI. Preferably, the information collection method may collect information through various means capable of capturing the inside of the body, and may use tissue obtained through surgery.

Therefore, it is possible to collect accurate data on the internal tissue of the patient, and thus it is possible to manufacture a customized artificial tube for each patient.

The second step is a step of outputting the three-dimensional structure based on the in-vivo tissue data of the patient collected from the first step using the three-dimensional printer.

The structure is preferably a soluble or degradable structure, and it is highly desirable that the structure is formed through a polyvinyl alcohol so that the most common solvent, water (distilled water), can be easily dissolved. It is used as a matrix for fabricating an artificial tube, and is produced through a water-soluble polymer since it is an element to be eliminated in the process of manufacturing an artificial tube.

On the other hand, when the surface of the structure is coated with metal or ceramics, a polymer scaffold having a decomposition point of about 300 to 400 ° C may be used as a structure.

That is, a structure having a physically melting point and chemically having a decomposition point (thermal, chemical) can be used. However, the soluble structures will be mainly described below.

Such a soluble structure may be any substance having a specific solvent compatibility, and is not limited to the above water-soluble polymer.

Such a structure is fabricated as a three-dimensional structure having the same structure as the tissue of a patient's body, and the shape is output to any one structure selected from a bulk and a hollow shape.

On the other hand, an intermediate step between the bulk and the hollow may be considered, which has a porous internal structure. When viewing a cross section in a 3D printing structure, texturing is sometimes performed at regular intervals instead of filling the inside of the paper. This shape is implemented as a porous form, which is an intermediate step between the bulk and the hollow. It is also clear that this structure can also be used as a support structure.

Here, the form of the output as the structure is not limited, but a porous intermediate-stage form in which dissolution is relatively easy is preferable, and a hollow form is more preferable. That is, the bulk structure is dense and difficult to dissolve, and therefore, if used, it may become a problem in terms of the efficiency of manufacturing the artificial tube. Especially, in case of dissolving the structure by the forced flow method, a channel should be secured inside the structure, and in order to realize the diversity of the dissolution method of the structure, the intermediate intermediate type of porous structure or the hollow type is advantageous. In addition, in the case of the porous structure, it is advantageous to apply the forced flow method as the porosity is higher, and even when the simple dissolution method is applied, it may be more advantageous than the bulk structure.

As shown in FIG. 2A, the structure 300 fabricated through the two-step process has a stacking texture on the output surface (surface) 310 due to the characteristics of the 3D printing process, and the present technology can not avoid this. That is, since the structure output through the three-dimensional printer is manufactured by a laminate structure, there is a laminate texture on the output surface 310. [

When the artificial tube is produced in the state that such a laminated texture exists, a laminated texture corresponding to the laminated texture will be formed in the interior of the artificial tube. If this is used as a medical artificial tube, a vortex that obstructs the flow of body fluids is formed This can lead to misdiagnosis if medical judgment is needed. Therefore, the structure manufactured through the second step requires a processing step for finishing the output surface.

The processing step is a step of smoothing the surface of the structure 300 so that the surface of the structure 300 is flattened by dissolving the protruded regions of the laminate structure, thereby reducing the single layer difference of the output planes. Throughout the process, the output surface may be a complete flat structure, but this is not necessarily the case, and merely achieving a relaxed structure in the laminate texture is beneficial to fluid flow. Therefore, this is not to be construed as a flat structure in which the laminated structure has been completely removed.

For example, if distilled water is used as a solvent, the processing step may be performed by contacting the laminated structure with distilled water at about 40 to 90 DEG C for about 60 to 480 seconds to dissolve the protruding region so that the output face 310 is at least flat So as to be in one form. This is a necessary condition when the structure is water-soluble, and the solvent, temperature and time may vary if the structure is not water-soluble.

Here, if the temperature (and time) is excessively higher than the upper limit, the entire structure dissolves excessively and distortion or decomposition of the shape of the structure may occur. If the temperature is out of the lower limit, .

Thereafter, the process of forming the artificial tube and collecting the artificial tube formed on the basis of the structure 300 on which the laminated texture is formed will be described with reference to FIGS. 3 and 4. FIG.

FIG. 3 is a process diagram for explaining a third step according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 4 is a process diagram for illustrating a fourth step.

As shown in the figure, step 3 is a step of forming an artificial pipe 100 on the surface of the sacrificial structure. The step includes dip coating the surface of the structure formed through the two steps, and evaporating the solvent of the polymer solution and a solvent evaporation step.

In the dip coating step, the structure is immersed in a water bath containing the polymer solution, and the polymer solution is coated on the surface of the structure. That is, the structure 300 of FIG. 3A is immersed in the water tank 200 containing the polymer solution 210 as shown in FIG. 3B, so that the polymer solution 210 is coated on the surface of the structure.

In this case, unlike the water-soluble polymer forming the soluble structure, the polymer solution is almost insoluble in water and is dissolved in a volatile solvent such as methylene chloride (Methylene Chloride) ), Which is suitable for the process utilization of the present invention. The kind of the structure and the coating layer are not particularly limited as long as they are suitable for applications such as medical use and have different physical and chemical properties from the structure.

When the difference in solubility in water is used as described above, polyvinyl alcohol (PVA), polyethylene oxide (PEO), or the like can be used as a support structure, and polyolefins, polyamides, , Polyurethane, aliphatic polyester, and polycaprolactone, can be used as materials for artificial pores. These materials can be used as a material for artificial pores.

The polymer solution should be adapted to have physical or chemical properties different from those of the support structure. This is because, when the sacrificial structure is removed, the polymer film for an artificial pore formed on the surface of the structure from the polymer solution is also treated during the processing. That is, the support structure must have a different decomposition point or melting point for a specific substance as compared with a coated polymer substance. The thermal decomposition viscosity may be different. For example, when the structure is dissolved by using distilled water at 90 ° C, it should have a property that it is not dissolved by the above temperature or distilled water. This is because it is possible to collect only artificial tubes.

The physical properties may be defined as exemplary melting points, and the chemical properties as exemplified by heat or chemical decomposition points.

Here, the method of coating by the dip coating method is limited. However, other coating methods such as spray coating are possible, and various coating methods can be used. Therefore, the coating method is not limited to the dip coating method.

The solvent evaporation step is a step in which the polymer solution 210 coated on the surface of the structure 300 is solidified and seated on its surface by the process of FIG. 3C.

The solvent evaporation step is performed by one of the following methods: the polymer solution 210 coated on the surface of the structure 300 is dried in a low temperature or high temperature environment, or the polymer solution 210 is crosslinked by a chemical reaction. However, the solvent evaporation method is not limited to the specific evaporation method, and various evaporation methods can be applied.

The evaporation of the solvent is a step of completing the actual artificial tube. The artificial tube 100 is formed on the surface of the structure 300 through evaporation of the solvent as shown in FIG. 3D. Then, as shown in FIG. 4, The artificial pipe 100 is collected.

The fourth step includes the step of forming the infiltration part in the artificial tube 100 and the step of collecting the artificial tube 100 as shown in FIG.

The step of forming the penetration part is a step of cutting or cutting a part of the artificial pipe 100 forming the surface of the structure so that the dissolving material dissolving the structure 300 can contact the structure. In this case, the structure may be in a hollow form. This is because the dissolved substance has to be propagated into the inside of the structure.

At this stage, as shown in FIG. 4A, at least a part of the artificial pipe 100 solidified on the surface of the structure 300 is cut or cut as shown in FIG. 4B so that the dissolved substance can contact the structure 300.

In this case, the cut-off area will be at least one part for allowing the dissolving material to penetrate, and preferably one end of the stem, if the structure consists solely of stalk, for example as shown in Fig. 5, As shown in Fig. 6, in the case of a stem portion and a branch portion, there is a method of cutting one end portion of the stem portion and the end portion of the branch portion, respectively.

Meanwhile, in order to more smoothly dissolve the structure 300, the dissolving material can be passed through the inside of the hollow sacrificial structure by the forced flow method. In this case, both ends of the stem and the ends of the branches can be cut have.

4C, the structure 300 is dipped into the water tank 200 filled with the dissolving material, that is, the distilled water 220, so that the structure 300 is dissolved. The distilled water (220) is as described above only for an embodiment of the dissolving material. At this time, the structure 300 is dissolved in the distilled water 220 through the ultrasonic cleaning for about 5 to 20 minutes, but is not limited to the ultrasonic cleaning method. This is a necessary condition when the structure 300 is in a hollow form. If ultrasonic cleaning is performed for a certain period of time, the residue of the structure 300 component may remain on the inner side of the tube structure. Also, if the upper limit is exceeded, distortion of the shape of the artificial tube may be caused on the assumption that the difference in the constitution of the structure 300 and the coating material is insignificant. Therefore, the time of the above ultrasonic cleaning is critical in the above range.

When the dissolution of the structure 300 is completed as shown in FIG. 4D, the structure is collected to complete the manufacture of the artificial tube 100 which can replace the body tube such as the blood vessel, the neural tube, the bile duct and the small intestine.

While the present invention has been particularly shown and described with reference to exemplary embodiments thereof, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the disclosed exemplary embodiments. Therefore, the embodiments disclosed in the present invention are intended to illustrate rather than limit the scope of the present invention, and the scope of the technical idea of the present invention is not limited by these embodiments. The scope of protection of the present invention should be construed according to the following claims, and all technical ideas within the scope of equivalents should be construed as falling within the scope of the present invention.

100: artificial tube 200: water tank
210: polymer solution 220: distilled water
300: Structure 310: Output face
N: Nozzle

Claims (14)

Preparing a dissolvable or degradable structure, which is the same or similar type of support as the medical artificial tube, using a three-dimensional printer;
Coating a solution of a polymer having physical or chemical properties different from the structure on the surface of the soluble or degradable structure; And
And dissolving or decomposing the structure, and allowing the coated polymer solution to remain in a solid form, thereby obtaining a medical artificial tube,
The method according to claim 1, further comprising the step of modifying or removing the lamination texture formed on the surface by three-dimensional printing prior to the coating step. . The method according to claim 1,
The structure comprises:
Dimensional data provided from at least one of ultrasound imaging, computed tomography (CT) imaging, and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the physical property is a melting point. ≪ RTI ID = 0.0 > 11. < / RTI > The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the chemical property is a thermal or chemical decomposition point. The method according to claim 1,
The structure comprises:
The method of any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the at least one of the at least one of the at least two layers is a bulk, a hollow, or an intermediate layer. 6. The method of claim 5,
Wherein when the structure is in a bulk form, the structure is coated and then the structure is exposed from the coated both ends thereof to dissolve the support in such a manner that the solvent can penetrate into the interior thereof (METHOD FOR MANUFACTURING MEDICAL ART TUBE USING 3D PRINTING STRUCTURE). 6. The method of claim 5,
When the structure is in the form of a hollow,
Wherein the structure is coated and then both ends of the structure are coated so as to penetrate, thereby dissolving the structure by a forced flow method of a solvent. 6. The method of claim 5,
When the structure is in the form of a hollow,
Wherein the structure is melted by a method in which one end of the structure is coated after being coated and the solvent is drawn through the penetrated region to manufacture a medical artificial tube using the three dimensional printing structure Way. delete delete delete delete delete delete

Images