Table 1_Functional personalization in digital manufacturing: a translational framework for patient-specific implants, arthroscopic locators, and therapeutic constructs.xlsx

Yet the field is often described through a device-centered lens, emphasizing anatomical customization, printing accuracy, and material feasibility. This framing is becoming insufficient.

Patient-specific manufacturing should not be understood merely as the fabrication of individualized objects, but as a clinically executable workflow that translates imaging data into surgical action, regenerative therapy, and outcome-informed iteration. This Perspective proposes that the next stage of 3D printing in medicine depends on three conceptual shifts: from anatomical matching to functional and procedural optimization; from passive printed products to interfaces that carry digital planning into the operating room; and from isolated fabrication success to clinically validated, regulation-aware, and feedback-driven manufacturing systems.