Research Progress of Four-dimensional Hydrogels in Implantable Medical Devices / 中国医疗器械杂志

Four-dimensional (4D) printing is an emerging technology that combines science and engineering techniques. The term, "4D printing" was coined in 2013 and since then it has attracted a lot of interests due to its unique ability to have structural or functional transformations over time in response to external stimuli. The most important element of 4D printing is the responsive material. The recent progress research of hydrogels and related new technologies for 4D printing was summarized in the field of implanted medical devices at home and abroad in this paper. Then, it was pointed out the problems of responsive materials for 4D printing. Finally, it was prospected that the development of 4D printing technology in the field of implantable medical devices.

Advances in Research of Chitosan-based Composites for Implanted Medical Devices / 中国医疗器械杂志

It is well known that chitosan-based composites are widely used in implantable medical devices. The development of chitosan-based composite materials with different types was summarized in this paper, such as inorganic, organic and composite phases. Then, combined with the research focus, the development of 3D printing technology and chitosan-based composites was summarized. It was also pointed out that the existing problems in our research, which need to be solved urgently. At last, the development direction and broad application prospect of chitosan-based composites were prospected. And we look forward to providing reference for relevant research.