Summary: CAD/CAM systems (long)

Summary: CAD/CAM systems (long)

Massimiliano Zecca

10/4/1999

Dear members,

firts of all I would thank anyone who replyed to my request; I'll
enclose all the replies at the end of this mail.

The result of this little survey is that _all_ CAD/CAM systems (but one
from Active Life Sciences) are good tools for prosthetics, with
a slight preference for TracerCAD ( <URL Redacted>.

Now, I would like to ask another question: according to your experience
and your opinion, which are the limits and the drawbacks of such systems
respect to hand tecniques? And which are the benefits? And what about
the quality of the sockets?

Looking forward for your replies.

        Thanks
        Massimiliano


(¯`·.¸¸.·´¯`·.¸¸.´¯`·.¸¸.´¯`·.¸¸.´¯`·.¸¸.¸.´¯`·.¸¸.´¯`·.¸¸.´¯)
    Massimiliano Zecca - Biomedical Electrical Engineer
    *** ARTS/MiTech Lab - Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna ***

       via G. Carducci, 40 tel: +39.050.883 419
       I-56127 Pisa, Italy fax: +39.050.883 402

     home-page: <URL Redacted>
     e-mail: <Email Address Redacted>
(¯`·.¸¸.·´¯`·.¸¸.´¯`·.¸¸.´¯`·.¸¸.´¯`·.¸¸.¸.´¯`·.¸¸.´¯`·.¸¸.´¯)




Here are the e-mails I've received:

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just a note to relate my experiences with tracercad. i have been a user for
over 16 months and find the cad/cam experience very rewarding. tracercad was
very simple to learn and quite cost efficient. i am currently tracing
transtibial,pffd, and some transfemoral ( transfemorals can be produced very
accurately using templates and measurements) i just began creating afo's by
measurment,and have been using the spinal by measurment method. my experience
with the transtibial and transfemoral has been quite successful. there is a
learning curve, but it is far less difficult than you would expect. as for
the afo and spinal by measurement, they are not only easy to learn but work
as well as if you took a cast. i find the tracer tools to be more than
adequate for almost every application that i have tried. for a large volume
the system would pay for itself in a very short time. it allows the
practitioner to not only be more mobile, but creates an invironment where
delivery time is reduced tremendously. the ability to retain patient files
for future reference and to provide justification at the touch of a button.
in the overall process it permits clear and concise documentation,as well, it
expedites the delivery of service to the patient. this in turn relates to
higher profits by reducing the need for time consuming procedures and labor
intensive tasks.

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I have had good success with TracerCAD. All CAD systems are tools. It takes
time to learn to use a new tool and one tool cannot do every job.

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My name is Ronnie Graves. I am the owner of Prosthetics
Research Specialists, Inc. in Bushnell, Fl. I have been
involved in Cad for ten years as both a technician and
a practitioner. I am on my 2 nd cad system that I have
owned. The first was a system from Active Life Sciences.
 It was the single biggest piece of junk that I ever had the
misfortune of buying. I tried for 4 years to get the
company to make it right and they never did.
I just recently purchased TracerCad and a carver distributed
 by PDI. I was able to immediately put both pieces to
work without a hitch. The support from both companies
has been excellent. I would rate them at the top of Cad
systems. When you ask for a particular item, they respond,
 whether it is mechanical or software to make our job
easier.

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I have used Seattle Shapemaker system and software for approximately 5 years.
Although my time savings was significant, I cannot say that my fitting
results were better than if I had hand modified. The consistency of shapes
was very good. I was able to eliminate hand casting AK's after developing a
satisfactory template. I feel after my years of using this system that there
is still no substitute for good hands skills.

I have also taken the TracerCad course and was impressed with their product,
but not enough to justify the great expense.


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We have used 3 prosthetic/orthotic CAD/CAM systems over the years -
now we are using Shapemaker for all cast-digitizing sockets (mainly
trans-tibial and spinal orthotics) and we use IPOCAD (ipos brim-based)
for trans-femoral. We still do some by hand - but fewer and fewer each
year. We also use AMFIT to make foot orthoses (this works very well
with a > 50 year old population). We also use CADVIEW for
trouble-shooting, shape comparisons, and research.

All of these systems work well. You just have to build the learning curve
into your installation plan. I also recommend that you standardize to one
hardware/system platform. For example a large facility like yours would
benefit by running a Microsoft Windows-based network that has more
than one workstation running the software.

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We have been using BioSculptor exclusively in our practice for 3 1/2 years
now. I chose this system after investigating all other available systems.
There are several reasons I chose BioSculptor.
The software is very intuitive. It thinks like a practitioner and shortens
the learning curve.
The mechanicals are extremely sound. Stepper motors &, etc., are high quality
industrial class. I had a mechanical engineer examine the imager and mill and
he was impressed.
Support. It is designed by and supported by an internationally recognized
practitioner.
It is not designed to be a leg in a box but is a very fast and accurate
tool.

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I have been using TracerCad for about 18 months now with excellent results.
In my opinion this is the best Prosthetic CAD system available.

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We currently have a CAD/CAM system by Vorum Research Corp. in house. We
have had this system installed for over two years. I investigated several
other systems before I purchased this system. The user friendly software,
technical support and software enhancements made me choose Vorum's system.
We have incurred very little problems with the hardware or software. The
problems that we did incur were corrected in a very short time. If I were in
the market again I would not hesitate to buy another Vorum system. It is
very easy to replicate any shape with their software. I understand that
Vorum is very close to releasing a new version of there software. They are
very good about including any new features in there software that are
enhancements to their total package.

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