By Miki Fairley Conference attendees enjoy an alfresco lunch in the Newport Beach Marriott Hotel and Tennis Club's Rose Garden. A vision of the future was presented to participants during the Second International Conference of Advanced Prosthetics (ICAP) April 18-20 in Newport Beach, California. Hosting the landmark event were Ossur, the Department of Orthopedic Surgery, College of Medicine at the University of California, Irvine, and California State University, Dominguez Hills Prosthetic and Orthotic program. The conference drew over 350 prosthetists, physicians, engineers, physical therapists, and technicians from as far away as Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa. Other countries represented in the truly international gathering were Brazil, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Iceland, Korea, Mexico, The Netherlands, Sweden, and Norway, as well as the US. Cutting-edge prosthetic research today is pointing the way to tomorrow. For instance, a thought-controlled prosthetic hand can provide sensory feedback along with more complex motor functions than today's myoelectric hands. Innovative prosthetic components, new designs, and materials, along with patient demand, are fueling recent advances in transfemoral amputations. Amputees may look forward to more effective relief of phantom pain due to research in neurophysiology and mechanisms of phantom pain management. Left: Goran Lundborg, MD, PhD, discusses progress on research and development of a thought-controlled prosthetic hand with sensory feedback and complex motor function. The rapid increase in knowledge of molecular cell biology is driving progress in tissue engineering, with significance for skin, bone, and blood vessels, noted Carsten Werner, PhD, as he discussed advanced polymers for tissue engineering. Right: Stuart Green, MD, discussed the Ilizarov Method of bone-lengthening. Here, he interviews a patient wearing a fixator, which induces the lengthening process. Hugh Herr, PhD, and Steven B. Leeb, PhD, both from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), discussed two different cutting-edge developments. Herr described a new gait-adaptive prosthetic knee that combines magnetorheological and frictional effects to modulate knee-resistive torque. The MIT knee is currently undergoing clinical trials and will be marketed to amputees later this year. Leeb explained Talking Lights™. The technology seems almost sci-fi, but is being tested for providing assistive communication to blind, deaf, brain-injured, and other patient populations. Talking Lights uses ordinary fluorescent lights, which in addition to their conventional function, also emit modulated light flickering too fast for the eye to see, but which can be received and decoded electronically. Leeb demonstrated the system by encoding a music CD which was then transmitted by a fluorescent light to a receiver, which played the music aloud. Other cutting-edge presentations included CT and MRI scanning to aid socket design, developments in patient assessment and outcomes measurements, an extended posterior flap surgical technique for patients who suffer pressure point problems from the conventional technique, and progress in treating Type I diabetes through pancreatic islet transplantation. A highlight was Ossur's "Rheo" knee system-a computer-controlled prosthetic knee and the first major project of the company's new Mechatronix division, which was demonstrated by an amputee user. Watch for articles in upcoming issues on cutting-edge research and innovations presented during ICAP.
By Miki Fairley Conference attendees enjoy an alfresco lunch in the Newport Beach Marriott Hotel and Tennis Club's Rose Garden. A vision of the future was presented to participants during the Second International Conference of Advanced Prosthetics (ICAP) April 18-20 in Newport Beach, California. Hosting the landmark event were Ossur, the Department of Orthopedic Surgery, College of Medicine at the University of California, Irvine, and California State University, Dominguez Hills Prosthetic and Orthotic program. The conference drew over 350 prosthetists, physicians, engineers, physical therapists, and technicians from as far away as Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa. Other countries represented in the truly international gathering were Brazil, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Iceland, Korea, Mexico, The Netherlands, Sweden, and Norway, as well as the US. Cutting-edge prosthetic research today is pointing the way to tomorrow. For instance, a thought-controlled prosthetic hand can provide sensory feedback along with more complex motor functions than today's myoelectric hands. Innovative prosthetic components, new designs, and materials, along with patient demand, are fueling recent advances in transfemoral amputations. Amputees may look forward to more effective relief of phantom pain due to research in neurophysiology and mechanisms of phantom pain management. Left: Goran Lundborg, MD, PhD, discusses progress on research and development of a thought-controlled prosthetic hand with sensory feedback and complex motor function. The rapid increase in knowledge of molecular cell biology is driving progress in tissue engineering, with significance for skin, bone, and blood vessels, noted Carsten Werner, PhD, as he discussed advanced polymers for tissue engineering. Right: Stuart Green, MD, discussed the Ilizarov Method of bone-lengthening. Here, he interviews a patient wearing a fixator, which induces the lengthening process. Hugh Herr, PhD, and Steven B. Leeb, PhD, both from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), discussed two different cutting-edge developments. Herr described a new gait-adaptive prosthetic knee that combines magnetorheological and frictional effects to modulate knee-resistive torque. The MIT knee is currently undergoing clinical trials and will be marketed to amputees later this year. Leeb explained Talking Lights™. The technology seems almost sci-fi, but is being tested for providing assistive communication to blind, deaf, brain-injured, and other patient populations. Talking Lights uses ordinary fluorescent lights, which in addition to their conventional function, also emit modulated light flickering too fast for the eye to see, but which can be received and decoded electronically. Leeb demonstrated the system by encoding a music CD which was then transmitted by a fluorescent light to a receiver, which played the music aloud. Other cutting-edge presentations included CT and MRI scanning to aid socket design, developments in patient assessment and outcomes measurements, an extended posterior flap surgical technique for patients who suffer pressure point problems from the conventional technique, and progress in treating Type I diabetes through pancreatic islet transplantation. A highlight was Ossur's "Rheo" knee system-a computer-controlled prosthetic knee and the first major project of the company's new Mechatronix division, which was demonstrated by an amputee user. Watch for articles in upcoming issues on cutting-edge research and innovations presented during ICAP.