Article

Recently, additive fabrication has been proposed as a feasible
engineering method for manufacturing of customized ankle foot orthoses (AFOs).
Consequently, studies on safety, comfort and effectiveness are now carried out to
assess the performance of such devices. OBJECTIVE: Evaluate the clinical
performance of customized (selective laser sintering) SLS-AFOs on eight subjects
with unilateral drop foot gait and compare to clinically accepted (polypropylene)
PP-AFOs. STUDY DESIGN: Active control trial. METHODS: For each subject two
customized AFOs were fabricated: one SLS-AFO manufactured following an additive
fabrication framework and one thermoplastic PP-AFO manufactured according to the
traditional handcraft method. Clinical performance of both AFOs was evaluated
during gait analysis. RESULTS: A significant beneficial effect of both
custom-moulded PP-AFO and customized SLS-AFO in terms of spatial temporal gait
parameters and ankle kinematic parameters compared to barefoot gait of adults
with drop foot gait are observed. No statistically significant difference between
the effect of PP-AFO and of SLS-AFO was found in terms of spatial temporal gait
parameters and ankle kinematic parameters. CONCLUSION: AFOs manufactured through
the SLS technique show performances that are at least equivalent to the
handcrafted PP-AFOs commonly prescribed in current clinical practice. Clinical
relevance Manufacturing personalized AFOs with selective laser sintering (SLS) in
an automated production process results in decreased production time and guarantees the consistency of shape and functional characteristics over different
production time points compared to the traditional manufacturing process.
Moreover, it reduces the dependency of the appliance on the experience and
craftsmanship of the orthopaedic technician.
- Pied tombant

Langue : ANGLAIS