3D printing of capsule endoscopes for rapid testing

Abstract

3D printing has revolutionized the production of biomedical devices with ground-breaking rapid prototyping technologies. The Sonopill project attempts to exploit 3D printing for rapid production of capsule endoscope prototypes for clinical research targeted at the diagnosis of gastrointestinal diseases (GI) using ultrasound capsule endoscopy (USCE). The primary goal of this project is to create prototypes of ultrasound capsule endoscopes also known as pills with a 3D printing technique. In order to provide a stable means of actuating the capsule to target areas of the GI tract and for efficient supply of electricity and unaltered transmission of control signals in the capsule control system a tethered design was considered. The capsule design was achieved with the SolidWorks three-dimensional Computer-aided Design (3D CAD) software and stereolithography (SLA) rapid prototyping technique was utilised in the 3D printing of the capsules. For quality control measures, mechanical evaluation methods which include tensile test and 3-point bend test were applied to ensure that the tether qualifies clinically and mechanically for endoscopy operations. Adhesive bonding was also implemented to bond the tether to the pill. Results from the 3D printing and mechanical evaluations show that ultrasound capsule endoscopes can be rapidly produced efficiently with SLA if temporary support materials used in the printing process. The bond strength of the tether-to-pill integration was found to be strong enough to avoid a capsule retention in the gastrointestinal tract. Based on these findings, the Sonopill project will be advanced through rapid production of tethered ultrasound capsule endoscopes (TUSCE) as this will give the research team the opportunity to understand the technicalities of the TUSCE prototypes before USCE becomes an expedient medical imaging technology.