Underprivileged children with missing limbs potentially face a bill in the thousands of dollars for a prosthetic limb, but they could soon benefit from a more affordable option.
Carrie Tingley Hospital - a UNM medical care facility focused on helping children - is researching the potential uses of 3D-printed prosthetics.
“It costs $50 - $75 to create," biomedical engineer Christina Salas said. "High strength options made from carbon fiber or Kevlar can be made for $75 - $150. A standard, functional prosthetic hand can average $5,000."
Carrie Tingley doctors and UNM engineers have begun working together to improve open source 3D prosthetic designs, Salas said. This will benefit the nearly 300 children at the hospital that need upper body prosthetics.
Thanks to the hospital's foundation, low cost prosthetics will soon be available to children in New Mexico, she said.
Along with Salas, Selina Silva, a pediatric orthopedic surgeon and medical director of Carrie Tingley Hospital, submitted a proposal requesting funding from the Carrie Tingley Foundation to help pay for the cost of research.
The Carrie Tingley Hospital is the only children’s hospital in New Mexico, Silva said, which is largely the reason why they received the grant.
“(If it wasn't for) the Carrie Tingley Foundation, we would not be able to have funding for this research,” she said.
Salas, Silva and Tingley Hospital doctor Deana Mercer have teamed up with UNM engineering to design a 3D bioprinter that is capable of printing a stronger version of ligaments and tissues for hand and finger prosthetics.
They have taken the open source designs and are upgrading them to be long lasting, sustain high loads and be comfortable for the user, Salas said. Their research includes designing a 3D printer that is able to print high quality prosthetics that are stronger than commercial ones.
Silva said they will be able to print custom fit prosthetics based on a child’s unique measurements.
Sensors placed on the prosthetic hand and muscles on the arm are used in conjunction to open and close the hand, she said. The sensors detect flection and retention to imitate a grasping motion.
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Steven Nery, a senior electrical engineering major, is part of the team that designs the 3D bioprinter that will make the prosthetics come to life.
Nery aids Salas in making a mechanical prosthetic more efficient through myoelectric sensors that utilize electrical signals in the arm muscle, he said. The sensors respond to electric impulses from muscle flexing and retention and can be used to operate a prosthetic hand’s grip and finger movements.
“We will focus on optimization and testing of mechanical models for the remainder of this year and move toward myoelectric prosthetics by next year,” Salas said.
Many of these children spend a lot of time in the Carrie Tingley Children’s Hospital and Salas said they expect to provide low cost upper and lower body prosthetics for every child who needs it.
These products could be available as early as next year if the carbon 3D printer shows promise, she said.
