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NEW MEDICAL TECHNOLOGY IMPROVES AMPUTEES’ LIVES

Computer Imaging Helps Measure For and Build Prosthetic Devices

A new medical technology that uses imaging software to create a 3-D picture of an amputee’s residual limb is improving the lives of patients.

Using computer-aided design (CAD) technology, the OMEGA Tracer System develops a picture of the residual limb. That picture serves as the blueprint for prosthetists to build patients better fitting, more comfortable custom prosthetic sockets.

“The new system benefits patients and doctors,” said Doug Call, CP, president of Roanoke-based Virginia Prosthetics. “It’s faster than forming an image through the traditional plaster mold method, highly accurate, and portable. Prosthetists can visit a patient in the hospital, and from their bedside, take the measurements and download that information into a laptop computer or personal digital assistant (PDA).”

Using the “T-Ring,” a circular device with sensors, the prosthetist measures and evaluates the shape of an amputee’s residual limb. As the T-Ring is moved across the limb’s surface, the three-dimensional image appears on the computer monitor screen. Prosthetists use hands on clinical skills to palpate or compress specific areas of the limb while viewing the changes in real time on the screen. When the measurements are finalized, they’re sent electronically to Virginia Prosthetics’ in-house fabrication facility and technicians begin building the prosthetic.

“The new process allows more active patient involvement in the production of their prosthetic devices and provides patients with better-fitting devices faster,” Call added. “A proper fit increases patient comfort and the prosthetic’s functionality.”

The Tracer System is also being used to measure and fit patients requiring orthotic devices, also known as braces.

Virginia Prosthetics was one of the first facilities in Virginia to purchase and use the new technology and is now an Omega Certified Facility.