Table 1.

List of strengths and limitations of the three main printing technologies for biomedical applications.

	PROs	CONs	References
Extrusion-based	Good quality of vertical structure; chemical, photocrosslinking; shear thinning and temperature gelation method; microscale resolution; high cell density; piston-, pneumatic-, or screw-driven.	Slow print speed; poor cell viability (40–80%) due to shear damage; low resolution.	[27,28,36,37,38]
Jetting-based	Low cost; high resolution; fast printing speed; chemical and photocrosslinking gelation method; thermal-, electrostatic-, laser-pulse or piezoelectric-driven.	Narrow ranges of printable biomaterial viscosities; high probability of cell damage, and cell lysis; non-uniform droplet size; nozzle clogging risk.	[9,27,39,40,41,42,43,44,45]
Vat photo polymerization	High resolution and fabrication accuracy, high production speed, dimensional stability, fast processing.	Limited choice of biocompatible materials, high cost, time- and energy-intensive.	[46,47]