3-D Scanners Improve Orthopedic Patient Experience and Increase Manufacturing Efficiency

Artec Group, a Luxembourg-based technology company that makes 3-D scanners and face scanning technology, is expanding its reach in the orthotics and prosthetics space with a partnership with Ottobock. 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 can then be used to create a 3-D object. Andrei Vakulenko, vice president of new markets for Artec, explained to MPO 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 are also 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 to the exact fit for the baby.

“The scanners’ optical system projects the object in a special pattern,” Vakulenko said. “It understands how deep the surface is, and so on.”

When Artec visited one of their 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 could easily break during transport.

Vakulenko told MPO 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 provides fast, accurate scanning in color and requires no markers and no calibration. It digitizes objects quickly in high resolution and vivid colors, offering almost unlimited application possibilities. Artec Spider is a new 3-D scanner specifically designed for CAD users. It is optimized for reverse engineering, product design, quality control and mass production.

Vakulenko explained the process of 3-D scanning as the “vice versa” of 3-D printing. With a 3-D scanner, models can be viewed and modified rapidly in the accompanying software, which Artec also supplies, and then sent to be manufactured either via 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 over 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 over step under their own power, cross obstacles more smoothly, and walk backwards. In 2013 the X3 brought 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 3-D image and send it to the factory in one minute. We expect that orthotics and prosthetics specialists will save about 2 to 3 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 5 or more years, I think that all orthopedic specialists will be using 3-D scanners instead of old methods for creating custom casts and braces.”