Custom Medical Splint Production via 3D Mold Segmentation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing methods for producing custom medical splints or braces are limited by high manufacturing costs, robustness issues, and inability to comply with medical requirements, especially in cases where direct moulding is not possible due to patient conditions such as fractures, cutaneous lesions, or neurologic pathologies that prevent patient immobilization during the moulding process.
Innovation Solution
A method involving the production of a three-dimensional mould of a patient's body part using three-dimensional imaging and digital modeling, followed by the creation of a two-dimensional template and subsequent moulding of thermoformable material onto the mould to produce a custom splint or brace, allowing for high-quality immobilization without requiring the patient's presence during the entire moulding phase.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Manufacturing precision
If direct moulding is performed on the patient's body part, then the splint can be customized to match patient morphology precisely, but the patient must remain immobilized during the entire moulding process which is not feasible for patients with certain pathologies
Solution Approach 1:
The moulding process is divided into two independent stages: first, a three-dimensional mould is created from the patient's body part (which requires patient presence); second, the splint is moulded from this three-dimensional mould (which does not require patient presence). This segmentation allows the customization precision to be maintained while eliminating the constraint of continuous patient immobilization.
Solution Approach 2:
A three-dimensional mould is created in advance as an intermediate artifact that captures the patient's morphology. This preliminary action allows subsequent splint production to proceed without the patient being present, as the three-dimensional mould serves as a permanent template.
2Reliability
If traditional moulding materials are used, then the process is simple and quick, but the resulting splints lack robustness and do not meet medical requirements
Solution Approach 1:
The patent specifies using thermoformable materials that can be heated to become pliable and then cooled to set into a robust final form. By changing the temperature parameter during the moulding process, the material transitions from a flexible state during shaping to a rigid state in the final product, achieving both ease of manufacture and high robustness.
3Manufacturing precision
If custom splints are produced using known methods, then patient-specific features are accommodated, but manufacturing costs are high and production time is long
Solution Approach 1:
The three-dimensional mould serves as an accurate physical copy of the patient's body part morphology. This copy can be used repeatedly to produce multiple splints without requiring repeated patient measurements or immobilization, significantly improving manufacturing efficiency while maintaining patient-specific adaptation.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This approach enables the rapid production of high-quality custom splints or braces that match patient morphology precisely, reducing manufacturing time and costs, and accommodating patient-specific features, such as lesions, while ensuring comfort and immobilization without needing the patient's presence during moulding.
Implementation Method 1
three-dimensional imaging of the patient's body part
Implementation Method 2
moulding of thermoformable material onto the mould
Data Source
AI summary
A method of producing a custom medical device including a splint or brace for immobilization of a selected region of a patient's body part. The custom medical device is produced in accordance with the following operations: (a) production of a three-dimensional mold of a portion of the patient's body part including the selected region onto which the desired medical device is to be placed; (b) definition of a three-dimensional shape of the desired medical device covering the selected region; (c) generation of a two-dimensional template corresponding to the defined three-dimensional shape, and which corresponds to unfolding in a two-dimensional plane of the three-dimensional shape of the desired medical device; (d) production of at least one plate of moldable material in accordance with the two-dimensional template of the desired medical device; and (e) molding of the plate of moldable material onto the three-dimensional mold to shape the desired medical device.