Prosthetics

The World of Prosthetics Gets Even More Incredible With Help from 3D Printing

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A new project is underway, courtesy of American designer William Root, which looks to redefine and remodel the whole concept of the prosthesis. His creation is the Exo Prosthetic leg and could be used to replace traditional robot prosthetics that are used today. It’s with thanks to 3D printing that making these prosthetics has become so simple, fast, and cost-effective.

With over 2 million amputees in the United States alone, this is fantastic news and could help a great number of people. Unlike most traditional prosthetics, Root’s Exo-Prosthetic leg uses a combination of 3D printing, 3D scanning, and 3D modeling software to create a product that is affordable, customizable, and beautiful on its right.

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First, 3D scanning is used to create a virtual model of the limb. Then 3D software is used to create a raw model of the prosthetic and then customize it to suit the patient’s taste and aesthetics. Finally, 3D printing is used to print out the leg using titanium dust particles, and the finishing touches are made by hand at the end.

The Exo Prosthetic leg is a great alternative to the traditional prosthetics that are currently on offer. It looks better than most other examples around, is far more eco-friendly to produce than most, it can be customized to your own specification and taste, and will cost far less too. So, what is there to say no about?

World-first clinical trials for better prosthetics based on antlers

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Researchers in the UK are conducting the first clinical trials in the world where they are drilling prosthetics right into the bone, instead of moulded and strapped into place.

ITAP

Image: Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital

Right now, if a patient needs a prosthetic limb fitted, one will be made with a cup-shaped end that will be moulded to the base of their arm or leg and strapped on. It’s not elegant, or secure, or comfortable. But now a team of biomedical engineers at the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital in London has just completed the first clinical trials of a new technique that has prosthetics drilled straight into the bone.

Named ITAP (Intraosseous Transcutaneous Amputation Prostheses), this technique grafts a little anchor directly onto the bone. The major problem with this technique though, is that this foreign body, which protrudes of the skin, has a high risk of getting infected. So the team looked at deer antlers, of all things, to find a solution.

Chris Higgins at Wired explains:

“Usually, any sustained breach of the skin barrier will allow foreign bodies through to invade. Antlers are specialised bone structures that transition from the skull into external features through the skin, but do not cause any adverse effects. The key to their organic survival is tiny, porous holes in the antler bone, allowing skin to grow into it and tightly infuse with the transdermal object, creating a barrier.”

With this in mind, the team at the hospital created a porous metal anchor that can be used to attach an array of specialised prosthetic limbs directly to the bone. The initial pain of having metal drilled into the bone will be offset by the increased comfort of the better-attached limb. According to Higgins, the 20 patients who took part in the clinical trial reported a better quality of life, some even describing it as “life-changing”.

What Happens To Your Prosthetics After You Die?

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Multiple groups are trying to recycle used artificial limbs and devices like pacemakers.

As prosthetics become more common, they are increasingly left over when people die. Where do they go? 

In the case of “inert” implants, like silicone breast implants or artificial hips, they are often left in and buried with the body, writes Frank Swain for the BBC. In the case of cremation, silicone burns up, but metal hips and the like are usually separated from the ashes and disposed. Other metals may be collected, like gold fillings–for instance, the Dutch company Orthometals removes 250 tons of metal annually from crematoriums around Europe to sell. “After you die, a little piece of you may one day end up in an aeroplane, a wind turbine, or even another person,” Swain writes.

Pacemakers, internal cardiac defibrillators (ICDs) and other prosthetics with electronic components are usually removed, especially in the case of cremation, as they contain batteries that can explode. One 2002 study found that “about half of all crematoria in the UK [United Kingdom] experience pacemaker explosions.” The first reported case of such an explosion, in 1976, created “a finger-sized hole half an inch deep” in the crematorium wall. (Death via crematorium pacemaker explosion would be a bad, and perhaps ironic, way to go.)

There are currently rules against re-using many prosthetics, such as pacemakers, in Europe and the U.S. But these devices cost a lot; some people in the developing world cannot afford new ones. So several charities are trying to reuse these. In the UK, the charity Pace4Life collects and sends working pacemakers to India. An American effort called Project My Heart Your Heart is looking to do the same thing in the U.S., and has found that “75 patients who received second-hand ICDs showed no evidence of infection or malfunction.”

Many healthcare providers will not take back artificial limbs. So several charities are trying to reuse them. One group called Standing With Hope, based in Nashville, recycles old prosthetic limbs for the developing world, in countries like Ghana.