The arrival of 4-D printing--what Skylar Tibbits at MIT calls "programmable materials that build themselves"--could be sooner than one might think, medtech industry analysts tell European Medical Device Technology. 

For example, 4-D printed neurovascular coils could soon reach the prototype stage, says Venkat Rajan, an analyst for Frost & Sullivan. "Recently, advances with the coils involve having them covered with bioreactive coatings that can expand after implanted and create a better seal," Rajan said.

Also watch out next year for prosthetic device prototypes with 4-D printing capabilities, according to Pete Basiliere, an analyst for Gartner.

Read the full EMDT story here.

Another example involves shape-shifting thiolene/acrylates that could enable self-coiling cochlear implants inside the ear, electrodes that coil around a nerve, and a host of cardiovascular implants, Walter E. Voit, assistant professor of bioengineering at the University of Texas at Dallas, explained in October at MD&M Minneapolis.

Meanwhile, 3-D printing equipment maker Stratasys has demonstrated enough interest in the concept that it has formed a partnership with Tibbits for 4-D printing research.

Chris Newmarker is senior editor of Qmed and MPMN. Follow him on Twitter at @newmarker.

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