Quality Control for 3D Printing in Biomedical Applications: a case study on Dimensional Assessment of Skull Models

The technical and scientific literature highlights the benefits of three-dimensional printing (3DP) in biomedical applications, particularly in preoperative surgical planning and patient-specific medical device manufacturing. Ensuring the dimensional congruence of 3DP models with the actual anatomy of patients is crucial for effective clinical decision-making. Despite the wide interest in the field, standardized protocols to ensure the safety and reliability of this emerging technology in clinical practice are still lacking in the scientific literature. In this context, the present study aims to propose a preliminary experimental approach for 3DP quality control in the biomedical field. In particular, advanced imaging techniques are used, such as Computed Tomography (CT), to verify the fidelity of the printed models. The proposed measurement method involves dimensional assessments, through image analysis, compared with those carried out on a reference skull model. The results obtained suggest that limitations of the entire printing process, starting with segmentation, modeling, slicing, and layer resolution appear to justify discrepancies in dimensional control that increase with decreasing model detail.