Investigation of 3D Printing as a Method of Preventing Biofilm Formation on Catheter Surfaces

Abstract

Percutaneous drainage catheters tend to form biofilms on the material surface which leads to infection and catheter blockage. To prevent biofilm formation the influence of substrate wettability on bacterial adhesion is investigated by attempting to 3D print surface topographies on the micro-scale. To make the process suitable for catheter production, a method of printing surface topographies without the assistance of support material was tested. It was found that printing surface topographies without the addition of support materials resulted in different topographies from the intended design. The wettability of the surface was still changed on each sample because the failed 3D printing of grooves produced an increase in surface roughness. Bacterial adhesion was increased with the addition of groove designs because the failed printing resulted in higher roughness. For these reasons, current 3D printing technology cannot produce surfaces capable of preventing biofilm formation using surface topography alone.