With a goal toward establishing recommendations and guidelines for additive manufacturing of upper-limb prostheses, a team of researchers, including Chris Baschuk, MPO, CPO, FAAOP(D), investigated the sociodemographics and expertise of individuals using the technology.
The international, cross-sectional, web-based survey was conducted from October 1, 2023, to June 30, 2024. Participants were recruited using non-probability sampling through specialized online channels.
Of 111 participants who started the survey, 61 (55 percent) completed it. Participants included aid organization members (40 percent), prosthetists (37 percent), and other related professions (23 percent), with up to five years of additive manufacturing experience (60 percent).
Active prostheses (56 percent) were predominantly manufactured using fused filament fabrication (84 percent) with polylactic acid (77 percent) material.
The results indicated that poor digital customization skills represented the main barrier to 3D production, and the functionality and reliability of additive manufacturing parts for upper-limb prostheses represented the major limitations in 3D devices studied.
The researchers concluded that although additive manufacturing offers significant technological advantages for upper-limb prostheses, human and technical barriers can hinder its implementation and clinical relevance, and they suggested further studies to establish guidelines for each subgroup of stakeholders.
The open-access study, “Prosthetics: A survey of stakeholders’ profiles and expertise,” was published in the Annals of Biomedical Engineering.
