AccScience Publishing / IJB / Online First / DOI: 10.36922/ijb.8109
RESEARCH ARTICLE
Early Access

Establishing a framework for the design and fabrication of patient-specific scaffolds targeting partial meniscal defects

Francklin Trindade da Silva1 Willian Gonçalves Tsumura2 Millena de Cassia Sousa e Silva3 Anderson Oliveira Lobo3 Thiago Domingues Stocco2*
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1 Faculty of Medical Sciences, State University of Campinas, Campinas, SP, Brazil
2 BioRegenera.Lab, Bioengineering Program, Scientific and Technological Institute, Brasil University, São Paulo, SP, Brazil
3 Interdisciplinary Laboratory for Advanced Materials, Materials Science & Engineering Graduate Program, Federal University of Piauí, Teresina, PI, Brazil
Submitted: 21 December 2024 | Accepted: 14 January 2025 | Published: 15 January 2025
© 2025 by the Author(s). This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License ( https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ )
Abstract

Meniscal injuries are a leading cause of knee dysfunction and are commonly treated with partial meniscectomy, which often leads to altered joint biomechanics and early-onset osteoarthritis. Current meniscal implants and scaffolds fail to address patient-specific anatomical variations, particularly for partial defects, limiting their clinical effectiveness. This pioneering study introduces the first methodology specifically designed to develop patient-specific scaffolds tailored to partial meniscal injuries, representing a groundbreaking advancement in the field. Using medical imaging and computer-aided design, precise 3D models of injured and intact menisci were created, leveraging the contralateral meniscus as a reference. Scaffolds were fabricated through extrusion-based 3D printing, enabling accurate replication of the defect geometry. Ex vivo analyses demonstrated the scaffolds’ adaptability to diverse defect types and their morphological fidelity to the native tissue. Quantitative assessments revealed minimal deviations, underscoring the precision of the proposed method. This innovative methodology provides a robust framework for developing anatomically precise scaffolds, paving the way for personalized regenerative strategies. Beyond its current application, it holds potential for creating cell-laden scaffolds, acellular implants, or permanent prosthetic devices, addressing critical challenges in meniscal repair and advancing patient-specific tissue engineering.

Keywords
Meniscus
Patient-Specific Modeling
Tissue Engineering
Bioprinting
Tissue Scaffold
Funding
This work was supported by the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq), the Department of Science and Technology of the Ministry of Health (Decit/SECTICS/MS), and the National Program for Genomics and Precision Health (Genomas Brasil) (CNPq: 444141/2023-5).
Conflict of interest
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
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International Journal of Bioprinting, Electronic ISSN: 2424-8002 Print ISSN: 2424-7723, Published by AccScience Publishing