FOUNTAIN HILL, Pa. - Those needing a cast for a broken bone now have an alternative to the traditional plaster or fiberglass casts that are often uncomfortable and hard to maintain.
And St. Luke’s University Health Network is the first in the state to create them on site.
For the past year, St. Luke’s has offered 3D waterproof plastic casts through a Colorado-based company called ActiveArmor.
- St. Luke’s University Health Network first in the nation to print custom 3D casts on site
- The casts are made of plastic and are waterproof
- They can be used for an array of injuries
Up to this point, St. Luke’s orthopedic department had to order the casts from ActiveArmor, which had a four-day turnaround.
Now, St. Luke's is able to print its own at its 3D Print and Innovation Lab.
“We can now get these 3D casts on kids fast, both for stable fractures that simply need to heal and more recently, unstable injuries,” Dr. Dustin Greenhill, a pediatric orthopedic surgeon at St. Luke’s Orthopedic Care, said.
Greenhill has been active in getting the newer technology out to his patients.
“For an active child and their parents, weeks in a cast can feel like months.”Dustin Greenhill, a pediatric orthopedic surgeon at St. Luke’s Orthopedic Care
“For an active child and their parents, weeks in a cast can feel like months,” he said. “I want them out of a traditional cast as soon as possible, but also need to protect the arm when kids go back to being kids. This cast lets me do both.”
Diana Hall, the founder and chief executive officer of ActiveArmor, explained, “I'm a chemical engineer and so I knew that there was a better alternative to patients getting their cast soggy and dirty and smelly, and not even being able to wash their hands while they are immobilized.
"So I started developing this for the kids who would have their fractures, and so that they could actually swim, bathe and shower with them.“
The casts are made of a heavy-grade plastic material and can be made for any part of the body. Two sides are printed, then fitted around the part of the affected body part and locked together.
Right now, St. Luke’s is printing 3D casts for the upper extremities.
“For preadolescents and adolescents with a severe wrist or forearm fracture, I’m now doing their 3D scan during surgery,” Hall said.
The casts are comparable in price to fiberglass casts when paid through insurance and typically are covered by medical insurance, including Medicare and Medicaid.
