A CASD/CASM method for prosthetic socket fabrication using the FDM technology

As an application of the computer aided design and computer aided manufacturing (CAD/CAM) technology in prosthetics, computer aided socket design and computer aided socket manufacturing (CASD/CASM) is becoming an active field in the prosthetics research. In this paper, a CASD/CASM method for prosthetic socket fabrication is described in detail. This is different from other fabrication methods in its novel combination of the CAD/CAM technology with fused deposition modeling (FDM) technology. Prosthetic sockets for volunteer amputees have been designed and fabricated in a FDM machine. In order to test the fabrication result, a final product was used to perform a clinical trial and some results are reported. In addition, the deficiency of the long fabrication time is addressed and some feasible solutions are discussed.