NovaCast: Lighter and safer 3D printed medical splint

NovaCast is a 3D printed medical splint that prevents infection, ulceration, and even amputation. It is ten times lighter than traditional materials and is very ventilated and breathable.

Traditionally, doctors have used plaster splints to help patients with bone rehabilitation, but such gypsum splints are often very cumbersome, unfavorable for medical examinations, and very airtight, prone to infections, ulcers and even amputations. In order to solve these problems, a group of graduates from the National University of Mexico (UNAM) recently created a startup called Mediprint, which used a 3D printing device to develop a medical cleat NovaCast that is more beautiful and convenient.

“Regular splints mainly use highly hygroscopic gypsum as a material, which means that it absorbs sweat, and because it is not ventilated and ventilated, it is easy to cause bacteria to multiply,” said Zaid Musa Badwan, a graduate of Electromechanical Engineering at UNAM Engineering and founder of Mediprint. .

According to Tiangong, the NovaCast developed by this group of students is currently patented, which replaces the traditional mold with 3D printing. The product has the advantage of being ten times lighter than traditional plaster splints, has a small movement limit for the patient, looks beautiful and can be personalized, and the patient can even take it with him.

"The cause of this project was that my mother had a broken left hand in a car accident. The doctor gave her a wrong splint. Later, the doctor had to correct her bones by surgery. But they once again misplaced the splint. So Now they diagnose her hand as 50% disabled," Zaid Badwan said.

He said that some people eventually had to amputate due to the wrong use of plaster and the breeding of bacteria. At the same time, if it is misplaced, causing the bones to heal poorly, it may permanently affect the ability to act.

In addition, these young engineers have designed a software that simply defines patient-specific measurement data to precisely define the size of the splint without the need for 3D scanning. “Doctors simply input data and it automatically generates the ideal geometry for 3D printing.”

It is reported that depending on the size of the patient, a NovaCast can be completed in about 3 and a half hours on average. "We are further developing and hope to reduce this time to one hour. Our next step is to bring this technology to the hospital, add 3D printers, expand our 3D printing capabilities to make surgical tools, custom templates or anatomy Teaching models, etc.," said Zaid Badwan. (Compiled from ScienceDaily)