Fujita, S., Murayama, T., Tamamoto, M., Shimoe, S., Makihira, S., Sasahara, K., Kawahara, K., Satoda, T., Nikawa, H., Niitani, Y., Hara, K., Matsumoto, A., Takemoto, T. and Amano, H. (2009) Design and Fabrication of the Mold of Finger Prostheses by Using CAD and 3d-Printer. 93rd Regular Meeting of Hiroshima University Dental Society, Hiroshima, 24-25 October 2009, 120. (In Japanese)

has been cited by the following article:

• TITLE: Computer-Aided Design and Fabrication of Finger Prosthesis

  AUTHORS: Takeshi Murayama, Kosei Oono, Mitsunori Tada, Toru Eguchi, Misuzu Nagami, Mitsuhiro Tamamoto

  KEYWORDS: Finger Prostheses, Esthetic Prostheses, Computer-Aided Design, 3D Printer, Additive Manufacturing

  JOURNAL NAME: Journal of Biomedical Science and Engineering, Vol.8 No.2, February 15, 2015

  ABSTRACT: Custom-made esthetic finger prostheses, which are used for rehabilitation of patients with missing or impaired fingers, have been fabricated manually. However, such fabrication is time-consuming and requires manual skill. Here we propose a computer-aided method for fabricating finger pros-theses to save time and allow fabrications that do not require considerable manual skill. In this method, the dimensions of a patient’s healthy finger on the contralateral hand are first measured using a caliper. Using these dimensions, a three-dimensional model is constructed for fabricating a prosthesis for the patient’s impaired finger. Using the 3D model, a mold is designed using 3D modeling tools and a computer-aided design system. The resulting mold is then fabricated using a 3D printer. A finger prosthesis is fabricated by pouring silicone resin into the mold. A finger prosthesis for a volunteer was experimentally fabricated according to the proposed method. To evaluate the size and shape of the finger prosthesis, the difference between the finger prosthesis and the original finger of the volunteer was analyzed. Because the average difference between them was 0.25 mm, it was concluded that the proposed method could be used to fabricate a finger prosthesis of adequate size and shape.