Remote fitting procedures for upper limb 3d printed prostheses

ABSTRACT

Background: The objective of the current investigation was twofold: i) describe a remote fitting procedure for upper limb 3D printed prostheses and ii) assess patient satisfaction and comfort with 3D printed prostheses fitted remotely.

Methods: A qualitative study using content and score analysis to describe patient satisfaction after remote prosthetic fitting. Research participants reported QUEST and OPUS scores that allow for perceived rating of general aspects and functionality of upper limb prostheses.

Results: Six children (three girls & boys, 6–16 years of age) and 2 adult males (25 and 59 years of age) with congenital (n = 7) and acquired (n = 1) upper limb loss participated in this study. Highest device satisfaction items of the QUEST include weight (4.50 ± 0.76), safety (4.38 ± 0.52), and ease of use (4.13 ± 0.64). Functional tasks of the OPUS observe that prosthesis donning and doffing (1.5 ± 0.84) and drinking from a paper cup (1.75 ± 0.89) were the easiest functional tasks.

Conclusion: The presented methodology for remote fitting of 3D printed upper-limb prostheses exhibits significant potential for rapid fabrication of functional prostheses to developing countries due to increased availability of digital devices in rural areas.

KEYWORDS:

• Computer-aided design
• computer-aided manufacturing
• rapid prototyping
• upper-limb prosthetics
• prosthetic design

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank the adults and children for participating in our research.

Thanks to the students working in the 3D Printed Prosthetic, Orthotic & Assistive Devices Laboratory at the Department of Biomechanics who helped with data collection and device manufacturing. Thank you to Copper3D for donating the 3D printing antibacterial filament PLACTIVE^TM.

Author contributions statement

J Zuniga, R Srivastava, and J Peck participated in the conception and design of the study. All authors participated in the analysis and interpretation of the data. J Zuniga, K Young, J Peck, D Srivastava and J Pierce participated in the drafting of the paper or revising it critically for intellectual content and approved the final draft. All authors agree to be accountable for all aspects of the work.

Declaration of interest

J Zuniga is the designer of the 3D printed transitional prostheses Cyborg Beast and his research team (K Young, J Pierce, R Srivastava, D Dudley, and D Salazar) fabricated the prototypes and conducted the data collection. Copper3D donated the 3D printing antibacterial filament PLACTIVE^TM used in this study. The authors have no other relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript apart from those disclosed.

Reviewer disclosures

Peer reviewers on this manuscript have no relevant financial or other relationships to disclose.

Additional information

Funding

The University of Nebraska Collaboration Grant, the Teacher-Researcher Partnership Program (TRPP), NASA Nebraska Space Grant Office (NNX15AI09H), Copper3D Inc., and the Center in Human Movement Variability of the University of Nebraska Omaha and the NIH (P20GM109090) provided funding for this study.