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Wow of the week: Could a 3-D printed cast become a disruptive medical device?
Medcity News ^ | July 6, 2013 8:45 am | Stephanie Baum

Posted on 07/06/2013 6:58:52 AM PDT by jmcenanly

About 6 million people break their bones each year, according to the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons. But after fracturing his arm, one industrial design graduate used a 3-D printer to produce n exoskeletal brace. The result is an innovative concept for fixing broken bones that, if nothing else, has presented an interesting case for rethinking the plaster cast.

Victoria University graduate Jake Evill created the brace prototype with a homemade 3-D printer and nylon plastic.

In an interview with Wired magazine, Evill said the inspiration for his Cortex design came from the trabecular, a structure that forms the inner tissue of a bone.

Read more:

(Excerpt) Read more at medcitynews.com ...


TOPICS: Health/Medicine; Science
KEYWORDS: 3dprinting; cast; medicine
I imagine that the brace is printed around the afflicted limb, and probably removed by cutting , like a regular cast.
1 posted on 07/06/2013 6:58:52 AM PDT by jmcenanly
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To: jmcenanly

Definitely a step forward!


2 posted on 07/06/2013 7:02:37 AM PDT by Standing Wolf
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To: Standing Wolf

I can’t wait until the inventor graduates and receives his medical license. Way to go Dr. Evill.


3 posted on 07/06/2013 7:03:55 AM PDT by bitterohiogunclinger (Proudly casting a heavy carbon footprint as I clean my guns ---)
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To: bitterohiogunclinger

4 posted on 07/06/2013 7:05:27 AM PDT by ClearCase_guy (21st century. I'm not a fan.)
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To: jmcenanly

I do not understand the Headline writers choice of words. How is a new support/brace ‘disruptive’????


5 posted on 07/06/2013 7:05:59 AM PDT by Nifster
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To: ClearCase_guy

That was my thought too when I saw the guy’s name!


6 posted on 07/06/2013 7:08:23 AM PDT by Menehune56 ("Let them hate so long as they fear" (Oderint Dum Metuant), Lucius Accius (170 BC - 86 BC))
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To: Nifster

It is a phrase that means innovative. I know... it is confusing.
http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/68462


7 posted on 07/06/2013 7:14:42 AM PDT by Kirkwood (Zombie Hunter)
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To: jmcenanly

No. It is printed as a bivalve.


8 posted on 07/06/2013 7:54:38 AM PDT by Diogenesis
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To: Standing Wolf
.


a very expensive alternative to a plaster cast ...

and the rapid-protype material will probably have issues with water, uv-radiation (sunlight) ...

over a two-month period ...


.
9 posted on 07/06/2013 8:01:48 AM PDT by Patton@Bastogne (Swine Piss be upon the Sodmite Obama, and his Child-Rapist False Prophet Mohammed)
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To: jmcenanly

This is disruptive because it cuts into the AMA monpoly on expensive plaster. Go to the pharmacy, put your ACE-sleeved arm into the scanner, and come back in an hour to get your thin shell two part cast.

Brilliant.


10 posted on 07/06/2013 8:03:41 AM PDT by Atlas Sneezed (Universal Background Check -> Registration -> Confiscation -> Oppression -> Extermination)
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To: Patton@Bastogne
a very expensive alternative to a plaster cast ...

and the rapid-protype material will probably have issues with water, uv-radiation (sunlight) ...

over a two-month period ...

All true, Patton@Bastogne, and there are probably additional problems, but that's the nature of bright new ideas: they take awhile to develop. I'm sure the weight savings alone—once the numerous and various bugs have been worked out—would more than justify the expense and bother.

11 posted on 07/06/2013 8:26:51 AM PDT by Standing Wolf
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To: jmcenanly

I’m starting to equate 3-D printing with making the steam engine or electricity available to mankind.

New applications seem to appear daily, and right now, IMO, the sky is the limit.


12 posted on 07/06/2013 8:57:14 AM PDT by Oatka (This is America. Assimilate or evaporate.)
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To: Kirkwood

Save us from the supposedly smart MBAs. This is one of the most ridiculous pairings in the english language. Talk about an oxymoron. And to what purpose other than to show just how ‘smart’ you are. Tell these yahoos who make up this crap to cut it out already

Sorry not your fault but I hate stupidity that is so obvious


13 posted on 07/06/2013 12:20:53 PM PDT by Nifster
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