RESUMEN
BACKGROUND: Three-dimensional (3D) printing technology has been applied to fabricate the personalized metallic biomaterials with low elastic modulus, low cost and precision, aiming at overcoming the defects of the biomaterials fabricated by the traditional technology. OJECTIVE: To summarize the development of metallic biomaterials fabricated by the 3D printing technology. METHODS: The articles were searched by using the databases of PubMed and CNKI. The key words were “metallic biomaterials, metallic 3D printing technology, surgical implants, oral application and cardiovascular devices” in Chinese and in English. As a result, 92 articles were applied after reading and analyzing the title and abstract of the articles published between June 2010 and June 2020. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: In biomedical applications, metallic 3D printing technology can be divided into two categories: powder bed selective melting and directional energy deposition. Metallic 3D printing enables mass production of metal implants with complex geometric shapes and internal structures, as well as customized medical implant production that meets the needs of specific patients. Faced with many metallic printing technologies, it is necessary to choose a suitable additive manufacturing process according to the complexity and different design of materials. At present, 3D printing of metallic biomaterials such as titanium and cobalt-chromium alloys has made substantial progress, and has been used in clinical orthopedics, dentistry and vascular surgery. Research on 3D printing metal biomaterials based on magnesium and iron is still carried on.