The role of three-dimensional printing in coronavirus disease-19 medical management: A French nationwide survey

OBJECTIVES: Coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19) has spread worldwide and poses various challenges to healthcare services. The limited supply of medical and personal-protective equipment has affected the ability of many countries to respond to the crisis. Three-dimensional printing (3DP) is well suited to addressing these shortages. We assessed the medical role of 3DP during the COVID-19 outbreak in hospitals in France. DESIGN: Retrospective survey. SETTING AND INTERVENTION: We included and questioned all French level-1 and -2 COVID-certified centers. PARTICIPANTS: One hundred and thirty-eight COVID-certified centers were contacted across France: 38 (27.5 %) level 1 and 100 (72.5 %) level 2 centers. The analysis focused on 133 centers (96.37 %), among which 98 (73.68 %) used 3DP. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: The primary endpoint was the number of pieces printed in 3D. The secondary endpoints were the mode, type, and benefits of 3DP. RESULTS: The total number of pieces printed in 3D nationwide was 84,886: 76,000 pieces of individual protective equipment (IPE) (89.53 %), 6335 pieces of biomedical equipment (7.47 %), and 2551 prototypes (3.01 %). In 91 cases (92.85 %), 3DP was performed using external printers. The pieces 3D-printed by the various centers helped around 6109 patients and protected around 41,091 caregivers. CONCLUSIONS: 3DP produced more than 84,000 pieces at 98 centers, helped more than 6000 patients, and protected more than 41,000 caregivers. Therefore, 3DP played a major role in medical aid during the COVID-19 outbreak in France.