Eassa Heba A, Helal Nada A, Amer Ahmed M, Fouad Aliaa, Bedair Asser F, Nagib Reem, Mansoor Ihab, Hawash Motaz, Abdul-Latif Maha, Mohammed Kamilia H A, Helal Mohamed A, Nounou Mohamed Ismail
Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, School of Pharmacy & Physician Assistant Studies, University of Saint Joseph, Hartford, CT 06103, USA.
Pharmaceutical Sciences, Irma Lerma Rangel College of Pharmacy, Texas A&M University, TX, 78363, USA.
Recent Adv Drug Deliv Formul. 2022;16(3):192-216. doi: 10.2174/2667387816666220727101214.
Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) emerged in China in December 2019. In March 2020, the WHO declared it a pandemic leading to worldwide lockdowns and travel restrictions. By May, it infected 4,789,205 and killed 318,789 people. This led to severe shortages in the medical sector besides devastating socio-economic effects. Many technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), virtual reality (VR), microfluidics, 3D printing, and 3D scanning can step into contain the virus and hinder its extensive spread. This article aims to explore the potentials of 3D printing and microfluidic in accelerating the diagnosis and monitoring of the disease and fulfilling the shortages of personal protective equipment (PPE) and medical equipment. It highlights the main applications of 3D printers and microfluidics in providing PPE (masks, respirators, face shields, goggles, and isolation chambers/hoods), supportive care (respiratory equipment) and diagnostic supplies (sampling swabs & lab-on-chip) to ease the COVID-19 pressures. Also, the cost of such technology and regulation considerations are addressed. We conclude that 3D printing provided reusable and low-cost solutions to mitigate the shortages. However, safety, sterility, and compatibility with environmental protection standards need to be guaranteed through standardization and assessment by regulatory bodies. Finally, lessons learned from this pandemic can also help the world prepare for upcoming outbreaks.
冠状病毒病（COVID-19）于2019年12月在中国出现。2020年3月，世界卫生组织宣布其为大流行病，导致全球封锁和旅行限制。到5月，它感染了4789205人，造成318789人死亡。这除了造成毁灭性的社会经济影响外，还导致医疗部门严重短缺。许多技术，如人工智能（AI）、虚拟现实（VR）、微流体技术、3D打印和3D扫描，都可以介入控制病毒并阻止其广泛传播。本文旨在探讨3D打印和微流体技术在加速疾病诊断和监测以及弥补个人防护装备（PPE）和医疗设备短缺方面的潜力。它强调了3D打印机和微流体技术在提供个人防护装备（口罩、呼吸器、面罩、护目镜和隔离室/防护罩）、支持性护理（呼吸设备）和诊断用品（采样拭子和芯片实验室）以缓解COVID-19压力方面的主要应用。此外，还讨论了此类技术的成本和监管考虑因素。我们得出结论，3D打印提供了可重复使用的低成本解决方案来缓解短缺。然而，需要通过监管机构的标准化和评估来保证安全性、无菌性以及与环境保护标准的兼容性。最后，从这次大流行中吸取的教训也可以帮助世界为未来的疫情爆发做好准备。
