Printing’s Impact on Medicine – 3D Printable Casts & Prosthetics

Today we’re taking a look at the promising implications 3D printing has for the medical industry.

From bones healing faster to amputees walking again, 3D printing's healing hand is not going unnoticed. Confused about how new-age printers can help patients? 

Read on and we’ll explain all about it.

The Evolution of the Plaster Cast
The Cortex Cast

2013 saw the introduction of the ‘Cortex Cast’, a stylish, ventilated 3D printable cast invented by University of Wellington graduate Jake Evill. 

Built in 2 or more pieces and then adjoined, the patients’ limbs can be scanned and turned into a 3D model, allowing for an accurate fit. 

Currently, printers may take hours to churn out a complete plastic cast, but we can expect this time to be reduced drastically as efficiency increases in the coming years.

This experimental product will cater to individuals varying limb sizes, and in the future can be printed on site, in a hospital or clinic. The smile on a patient's face will serve as proof of witnessing a successful marriage between medicine and technology.

Available in various colors, printable casts will grow to symbolize 3D printing's low-key invasion into the fashion world. Expect Malta 3D Printing to blog about this shortly!

The Osteoid

A 3D printable cast known as the ‘Osteoid’ is helping to heal bones up to 80% faster. Created by Turkish design graduate Deniz Karasahin, the cast’s plastic, aerated structure allows for an ultrasound device to be attached to it – resulting in improved treatment for patients. 


Bulkiness, itchiness and discomfort associated with plaster casts will become a thing of the past thanks to the Osteoid’s lattice pattern and lightweight build.

 

This promising invention won the ‘A'Design Award in 3D Printed Forms and Products Design in 2013. Its full name is the ‘Osteoid Medical Cast, Attachable Bone Stimulator’, but we prefer the ‘Osteoid.’ 

The wires attached to the plastic frame (see picture above) allow for the healing pulse to be sent to the desired area, sending ultrasound waves at the touch of a button. 

With a single 20 minute daily session, the Osteoid can potentially improve healing rates by up to 80% in non-union fractures, and up to 38% in other fractures.

The Osteoid is made out of ABS (acrylonitrile butadiene styrene), a popular thermoplastic with 3D printing vendors, household goods and food containers. While it may seem like a simple design, the precise location of each air space is algorithmically calculated, and the locking mechanism (see picture below) may vary in location from case to case.

 Both the aforementioned models are more expensive than present day remedies, but offer localized healing, water-resistance, and a higher standard of environmental sustainability and aesthetics.

We can only imagine a little girl with a broken hand looking up at a doctor, smiling as she tries on her cast in her favourite colour. Small details can go a long way!

 Once 3D printing successfully infiltrates hospitals worldwide, expect to see a myriad of patients with casts in blue, red, yellow green and more!

3D Printable Prosthetics 

According to statistics collected in 2008, there are approximately10 million people across the world living with amputations (arm, elbow, shoulder, leg, knee etc.). 

Unfortunately, only a select few can even afford prosthetic limbs, as a large percentage of amputees live in developing countries. 

Skeptical about 3D printing's global influence? Well, it's a good thing Malta 3D Printing's here.

Miracles are already happening throughout the 3D printing world. Patrice Johnson, using a $500,000 3D printer owned by Ex-One, began printing prosthetic arms and lending a helping hand to people in less fortunate parts of the world.

 “Right on the border of Burma and Thailand, there are landmines like you wouldn’t believe,” Johnson said in an interview with The Atlantic.

Bravely venturing to Burma equipped with two 3D printed prosthetic arms, Johnson donated the artificial limbs and had the two lucky patients feeling comfortable within half an hour.

It’s not all blue skies, however, as Johnson points out that the main issue with 3D printed limbs lies in the attachment.  It must successfully connect to both soft tissue and bone without damaging either, whilst providing an adequate range of motion for the patient.  

Luckily, one of 3D printing’s many strengths can solve this problem. Due to the extreme level of detail 3D scanners and printers can achieve, a full scan of a patient’s intact limb would result in a precise 3D replica – one that post-print would be expected to be an exact fit on the damaged limb.

A prime example of an artificial 3D printed limb is the ‘Jaipurknee’. Pictured in the image above, the Jaipurknee claims to be one-tenth the cost of a traditional polycentric knee joint and is built to last between 3-5 years. 

With 3D printers firing on all cylinders across the globe, the number of amputees could be drastically reduced within the coming years, as people gain access to cheaper, more efficient means of limb replacement. 

The team behind Malta 3D Printing have nothing but respect for these life-changing inventions.

Cutting Edge Tech - Oculus Rift, Altergaze, 3D Doodler

Welcome back to the home of Malta 3D Printing! 

With a host of exciting 3D printing prospects on the horizon, our team of tech junkies are on constant alert for promising projects in the industry.

Today we’ll take a look at how 3D printing goes hand-in-hand with the latest virtual reality devices, as well as presenting the world’s first 3D Printing pen!

Fact: Kickstarter has helped turn all 3 of these brilliant ideas into real products!

The Oculus Rift

Essentially a portable virtual reality headset, this revolutionary project was designed by Oculus VR, and invented by Palmer Luckey. 

The Oculus Rift is aimed at transforming the way users experience media – mainly video games, but other visual media too.

The Oculus Rift uses 2 stereoscopic lenses to project a small screen in front of your eyes to a 160 degree angle (the naked eye typically sees 180 degrees), ultimately transporting your vision to a virtual reality.

You may be asking yourself, where does 3D printing fit into all of this?

The answer lies with the Oculus Rift’s inventor, Luckey, who worked on a number of low-budget augmented reality machines prior to the Oculus. These devices, many of which have remained open-source, can all be 3D printed.

The MxR (Luckey’s former associates) lab at the University of Southern California have a number of free, 3D printable versions of these 'immersive' viewers, including the VR2GO and Socket HMD (head-mounted display), which work with various smartphones.

Once fitted with the correct circuitry and software, the item transforms itself into a low-cost ‘immersive viewer.’ While these machines may eventually be brushed aside by the Oculus’ supremacy in the VR world, they have, ironically, paved the way for it to take centre stage.

One can also print a number of unofficial attachments for the Oculus Rift. These include eye-cups and adjustable focus knobs and sensor mounts, all available to print for free from thingiverse.com.

3D printing picks up where the developers left off, allowing for customers to tweak their products, resulting in an improved experience. 3D printing effectively acts as the cherry on the cake. 

The Altergaze

When 3D printing and virtual reality combine, the result is nothing short of remarkable. Similar to the aforementioned VR2GO and Socket HMD, the Altergaze is a 3D printable virtual reality machine designed to work with smartphones.

While it may not rival the Oculus Rift in terms of technical prowess, the Altergaze has a few tricks up its sleeve.

The team behind the Altergaze are allowing for their work to remain open-source, allowing for any owner of a 3D printer to become an official seller. This idea is helping to revolutionize the way products are being sold – resulting in more efficient channels of distribution, lower costs for the company and better products for the consumers.

Furthermore, it reduces a company’s carbon footprint, resulting in a greener environment for our future.

The Altergaze would, similar to other virtual reality products, have big implications for mobile gaming - allowing users to immerse themselves in a virtual world. Other possibilities would include virtual experiences at museums, music events and much more.

Currently, the Altergaze’s kickstarter campaign - while failing to reach the unprecedented heights set by the Oculus rift – has exceeded its $25,000 target. Altergaze are offering users 3 separate designs to choose from, 26 different colours for the plastic structure, 8 colours for the eyepiece and more than 20 smartphone bracket sizes.

3D Doodler

Moving along the branches of the technology tree, we present to you the world’s first 3D pen, the ‘3D Doodler’!

Created by WobbleWorks, this unique product gives users the freedom of 3D printing without the need for technical expertise. So long as you can draw, and have a power source available, then you’re free to create objects in any shape you like!

It’s basically a mini-printer - as the plastic heats up, it’s pushed through the tip of the lightweight pen, quickly cooling down to form ABS or PLA plastic structures.

3D Doodler also comes equipped with its very own stencils, helping you to unleash your imagination until you begin creating your own masterpieces. The online 3DDoodler community is growing fast, with plenty of solid advice for beginners and free stencils available.

This promising addition to the 3D printing world can easily become a powerful educational tool, and according to their website, WobbleWorks are already in contact with several educational distributors.

Although this technology produces 3D printable items, it’s still miles away from the complex builds traditional FDM (fused deposition modelling) printers can produce. 

Traditional 3D printers generally take hours to create a model, however, we can’t help but ask ourselves, would we spend hours on end holding a 3D pen?

Available for approximately £100 from the3doodler.com, it’s far cheaper than traditional printers, at the cost of severely reduced accuracy and extended man hours.