Recently 3D-printing is used to provide a better and more comfortable night’s rest to people with sleep apnoea. Most of the people that are diagnosed with sleep apnoea use a CPAP (Continuous Positive Airway Pressure). This device blows air into your trachea through a mask. 3D Medical Solutions developed a 3D-printed, personalised mask for patients that experience discomfort from their current mask. The Aerafit-mask is directly or indirectly printed through 3D-printing techniques. The outer part of the mask, that is directly printed, a 3D-printable resin is used. This resin is a photo-reactive acrylate, CE certified and suitable for bio-compatible applications. Its certification makes it suitable for medical applications. The material is strong, water-resistant and meets the highest possible biocompatibility requirements: USP Plastic Class VI. The silicon mask-insert is not directly printed, but made in a singular 3D-printed mould. This is done, because there is not a printing technique that meets the quality requirements of the material and product yet. In The Netherlands, about 500.000 people suffer from the obstructive sleep apnoea syndrome (OSAS). Suffering from this syndrome, people stop breathing several times at night. As a solution, a therapy was developed using a certain kind of mask, but the discomfort and inconvenience of this mask make a lot of people quit the therapy. Most of these masks unintentionally result in a certain level of air leakage and pressure sores. By personalising the mask for each face, the air leakage becomes negligible. Aerafit During development it became clear that individualising the mask improves the therapy effectively. A perfectly fitting mask results in an equal pressure distribution, a better night’s rest and improved functional abilities during the day.
Click here to read more [NL] or visit the Aerafit website.
Source:
3D-print magazine
22 September 2016