Animal and clinical studies have demonstrated the effectiveness of low-intensity pulsed ultrasound stimulation (LIPUS) in the acceleration of the normal healing process of bone fractures, so industrial designer Deniz Karasahin decided to make use of that process.
Karasahin created his Osteoid, a custom-fitted, 3D printed medical cast with an attachable LIPUS bone stimulator system.
The design for the cast was based on a clinical trial of sixty-seven closed or grade-I open fractures of the tibial shaft. Karasahin decided to incorporate the ultrasound stimulating device as an adjunct to conventional treatment with a decidedly old-school method – the cast.
The cast and stimulator is a non-invasive, low-intensity pulsed ultrasound method of speeding the healing process, tested in studies which employed the system every day (in 20-minute sessions).
The result? The LIPUS system increased the healing rate by up to 80% and reduced the healing process by up to 38% for some fractures.
The Osteoid medical cast is a great leap forward when judged against the standard cast. Designed with ventilation holes which allow for the LIPUS bone stimulator probes to be located and attached directly to the skin, Karasahin’s cast is stable and functional and as an added bonus, provides unheard-of levels of comfort for the patient.
Made of a lightweight and waterproof plastic, the cast focuses on the patient’s comfort and does away with the itchy, foul-smelling, bulky and heavy plaster material which has traditionally been used to immobilize a broken limb. The Osteoid is custom fitted, highly durable and impervious to water.
The LIPUS pulse generator which functions as a companion treatment includes a color switching led to guide the patient with information about the device’s operational state and session times.
Karasahin created the Osteoid by scanning the patient with a 3D body scanner, transferring that data to modeling software, using the software to design a locking mechanism and then generate the ventilation holes with an algorithm. The completed model is then 3D printed via the FDM process from ABS.
The Osteoid medical cast is made from two pieces which are fixed together like a jigsaw puzzle using a central hole which passes through the edges of the pieces where a flexible pin is inserted to tightly connect the pieces together.
References
- clinical trial (ncbi.nlm.nih.gov)