Additive-manufactured non-woven fibrous implants, systems, and related methods

An additive-manufacturing system for forming at least one non-woven fibrous implant, comprising:

• a robotic subsystem including:
• scanning and imaging equipment configured to scan a patient's anatomy;
• and
• an armature including at least one dispensing nozzle configured to selectively dispense at least one rigid material and at least one pliable material;
• a controller apparatus having a processor and a non-transitory computer-readable medium storing computer-executable instructions configured to, when executed by the processor, cause the controller to:
• send a control signal to control the scanning and imaging equipment to determine a target alignment of a patient's spine;
• develop an additive-manufactured printing plan including an additive-manufactured material selection plan based on the target alignment of the patient's spine;
• and
• execute the additive-manufactured printing plan to:
• control the armature to dispense the at least one material chosen from the at least one rigid material and the at least one pliable material to form a non-woven fibrous component,
• wherein the non-woven fibrous component defines a plurality of randomly oriented fibers further defining a plurality of open pore spaces between adjacent fibers configured to facilitate boney ingrowth between adjacent fibers.

A method for printing an additive manufactured non-woven fibrous implant, comprising:

• positioning, in a first positioning step, a dispensing component proximate to an environment subjected to a turbulent airflow;
• printing, in a printing step, a fibrous material within the environment subjected to the turbulent airflow to form at least one non-woven fibrous component;
• coupling at least one rigid material to the at least one non-woven fibrous component;
• and
• placing the non-woven fibrous component inside an interbody access space of a patient.

A non-woven fibrous implant, comprising:

• a first endcap formed of a rigid material and having a size corresponding to size of a first vertebral body;
• a second endcap formed of a rigid material and having a size corresponding to size of a second vertebral body;
• at least one pliable material layer disposed between the first endcap and the second endcap, the pliable material layer being configured to provide a motion-sparing effect, and
• at least one non-woven fibrous component comprising a plurality of randomly spaced and oriented fibers defining a plurality of open pore spaces between adjacent fibers,
• wherein the open pore spaces are configured to promote boney ingrowth between adjacent fibers, and
• wherein the at least one non-woven fibrous component is cut from a batch of fibrous material extruded directly in a turbulent airflow environment.