The lattice-like design of a 3D-printed cast is cool enough, but adding more technology to the device to help a broken bone heal faster is a true advance. CNET Australia reported on a possible enhancement to the Cortex 3D-printed cast, designed by Jake Evill. The cast can be printed to fit an individual, it is waterproof and well-ventilated to cut down on the itch factor. A designer came up with the idea as part of a design competition:
The Osteoid cast by designer Deniz Karasahin — winner of a A’ Design Award — takes the same basic idea of a custom-built, 3D-printed cast and refines it.
The big addition … is something called a LIPUS generator. Standing for “Low-Intensity Pulsed Ultrasound,” it attaches to the cast and sends pulsed ultrasound into the affected area — a therapy that has been proven to speed the regeneration of damaged bone.
“In order to function, the LIPUS ultrasound probes have to be placed on the injured area with direct skin contact, because of this requirement it was not possible to use this method with patients using standard medical casts. Now thanks to the ventilation holes on the Osteoid medical cast the LIPUS bone stimulator probes can be placed over the injured area.”To be fitted for a cast, a patient’s arm (or other broken limb) is 3D-scanned, and a technician will use this data to design a custom cast for the injury, taking into account the injury’s placement as well as size, geometry and ventilation hole placement. It is then printed in two parts that fit together like a puzzle, with holes for a flexible wire to be threaded through, locking the cast in place.
At this stage, Osteoid is only a prototype, but — given that the medical field is often at the forefront of new technology, as it seems to be with 3D printing — it may not be long before we see it or something similar arriving soon.
