3-D printing will be of great use when it comes to creating drug delivery devices, radiologist Dr. Horacio D'Agostino of Louisiana State University said at a recent meeting of the Society of Interventional Radiology in Atlanta. "Using 3-D printers and bioplastics, our team constructed filaments, beads, catheters and stents that contained either antibiotic or chemotherapeutic agents. We then tested to see if these devices could stop growth of bacteria or cancers cells, respectively," he said. The catheters containing antibiotics did indeed restrict growth of E. coli in laboratory experiments, and the filaments with chemotherapeutic agents affected tumors. "We believe that our findings with this technology highlight the limitless potential of the interventional radiology to offer patient-centered care. With 3-D printers interventional radiology will be able to print catheters and stents almost on demand, in sizes and shapes that are customized to each patient," he said. More