3-D Scanners Promise Potential to Improve Patient Experience and Increase Manufacturing Efficiency

Ottobock provides medical technology products and supply concepts in the fields of prosthetics, orthotics, mobility solutions (wheelchairs, rehabilitation aids), neurorehabilitation and medical care for people with reduced mobility, and is based in Duderstadt, Germany.

The scanners, which look and operate like video cameras, stitch together images of a an actual object in order to create a 3-D model in software, which then can be used to create a 3-D object. Andrei Vakulenko, vice president of new markets for Artec, explained to ODT some of the medical applications Artec’s 3-D scanners are currently used for. They can make custom seats for people with limited mobility by scanning a vacuum bag with the patient sitting on it. The scanners also are used to create custom back braces by scanning the patient’s body. Some clients use the devices to create custom helmets for babies with head damage. The babies wear a special hat, and the scanner scans the shape in order to create a helmet that precisely fits the baby.

When Artec visited one of its clients last year, a French orthopedics and prosthetics company called Orten, it was struck by how Orten had improved the experience of patients by using 3-D scanners to create customized products.

Without a 3-D scanner, a patient who needed a customized brace would have to be covered in plaster and wait for it to harden. The plaster is then cut off, and the result would be sent via mail to the manufacturer. The patient cannot move, or the cast will freeze incorrectly. Cost of shipping is high, and the cast easily could break during transport.

Vakulenko told ODT that the softness of a patient’s limbs does not make for an ideal measurement. With a 3-D scanner, this problem is eliminated.

The Artec Eva scanner scans in color and high resolution, and requires no markers and no calibration. The Artec Spider is a new 3-D scanner specifically designed for computer aided design users. It is optimized for reverse engineering, product design and quality control as well as mass production.

3-D scanners are used in conjunction with 3-D printers in order to create designs and then produce objects from those designs. In a recent conversation with ODT, Derek Mathers, business development manager for Worrell Design Inc., a Minneapolis, Minn.-based industrial design and product development company, talked about a layman he encountered at a recent U.S. Food and Drug Administration summit who taught himself how to use SolidWorks 3-D design software. He used the technology to customize functional fingers for his son who was born without any. He used a 3-D scanner to scan the prosthetic his son was already using, and his son’s hand, and developed a better, more functional model hand. Not only was he able to customize the design for his son, but he also is disseminating the design for anyone to tweak and customize for their own needs.

The process of 3-D scanning is the vice versa of 3-D printing. With a 3-D scanner, models can be viewed and modified rapidly with accompanying software, which Artec also supplies, and then sent to be manufactured either by 3-D printing methods or traditional milling machines.

Ottobock will be using the devices to create prostheses. One of its most well-known products is the C-Leg microprocessor-controlled prosthetic knee (MPK), which has been on the market for 15 years. According to company officials, the C-Leg is the most clinically evaluated MPK in history, with more than 40 peer-reviewed, published studies that demonstrate proven results for users. The Compact was introduced to bring C-Leg technology to less active amputees who require a high degree of stability.
After advancements in technology, Genium was the first MPK to allow patients to walk upstairs step by step under their own power, cross obstacles more smoothly, and walk backwards. In 2013 the X3 Ottobock technology introduced the unprecedented feature of a completely waterproof MPK.

“Prior to our scanners, Ottobock may have had to send a cast of the proposed prosthetic in a box to the manufacturer,” Vakulenko said. “It’s much easier to take a [digital] 3-D image and send it to the factory in one minute. We expect that orthotics and prosthetics specialists will save about two to three hours per device with our 3-D scanners.”

Artec’s scanners are, of course, useful in many industries besides medtech, such as prototyping for the automobile industry, computer graphics for the cinema and gaming industries, creating models for online museums and even criminology. Their application in medtech allows for highly customizable devices, including prosthetics, which improves healing time and medical care in general.

“Doctors are conservative. They are not often quickly fixed to new technology,” Vakulenko said. “And I prefer that my doctor is conservative, switching to new technology slowly and carefully. But in the next five or more years, I think that all orthopedic specialists will be using 3-D scanners instead of older methods for creating custom casts and braces.”