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

ObjectivesCoronavirus 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.DesignRetrospective survey.Setting and interventionWe included and questioned all French level-1 and -2 COVID-certified centers.ParticipantsOne 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 measuresThe primary endpoint was the number of pieces printed in 3D. The secondary endpoints were the mode, type, and benefits of 3DP.ResultsThe 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.Conclusions3DP 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.