Page 526 - IJB-10-2

International

Journal of Bioprinting

RESEARCH ARTICLE
Evaluating the clinical benefit and acceptance of

a bespoke 3D-printed splint for the treatment of
mallet finger injury: A pilot study in a cohort

of patients

Una M. Cronin , Aidan O’Sullivan , Margo Sheerin , Kevin J. O’Sullivan ,
1
1
2
1
Niamh M. Cummins 3,4,5 , Damien Ryan , and Leonard W. O’Sullivan *
6
1
1 Rapid Innovation Unit, Confirm Smart Manufacturing Centre & Health Research Institute, University
of Limerick, Limerick, Ireland
2 Occupational Therapy Department, University Hospital Limerick Group, Nenagh General Hospital,
Co., Tipperary, Ireland
3
School of Medicine, SLÁINTE Research and Education Alliance in General Practice, Primary
Healthcare and Public Health, Faculty of Education and Health Sciences, University of Limerick,
Limerick, Ireland
4 Ageing Research Centre, Health Research Institute, University of Limerick, Limerick, Ireland
5 Department of Paramedicine, School of Primary and Allied Health Care, Monash University,
Melbourne, Australia
6 Emergency Department, ALERT Limerick EM Education Research Training, University Hospital
Limerick, Limerick, Ireland

Abstract
*Corresponding author:
Leonard W. O’Sullivan Mallet finger injuries due to forced flexion of the distal interphalangeal joint represent
(leonard.osullivan@ul.ie) a common reason for hospitalization. These injuries are primarily managed using
Citation: Cronin UM, O’Sullivan generic Stack splints. The gold standard of care is custom splinting by a specialized
A, Sheerin M, et al. Evaluating the hand therapist. However, this is not widely available due to staffing constraints. The
clinical benefit and acceptance of
a bespoke 3D-printed splint for the aims of this study are to: (i) evaluate whether treating mallet finger injuries with a
treatment of mallet finger injury: custom three-dimensional (3D)-printed splint is clinically beneficial, and (ii) assess
A pilot study in a cohort of patients. patient and healthcare professional (HCP) acceptance and experience of bespoke
Int J Bioprint. 2024;10(2):1963.
doi: 10.36922/ijb.1963 3D-printed mallet splints over generic splints. Ten adult patients with closed mallet
finger injury were recruited in this study, which was conducted across three Injury
Received: October 3, 2023 Units in the University of Limerick Hospital Group (ULHG). Each patient’s injured finger
Accepted: November 3, 2023
Published Online: March 8, 2024 was measured using calipers and subsequently fitted with a bespoke 3D-printed splint.
Clinical benefit and acceptance of bespoke 3D-printed splints for the treatment of
Copyright: © 2024 Author(s).
This is an Open Access article mallet finger injury was assessed. The results indicate that it is clinically advantageous
distributed under the terms of the to use a custom 3D-printed splint over a premolded generic splint. Out of the ten
Creative Commons Attribution patients recruited, eight had successful outcomes based on the occupational therapist
License, permitting distribution,
and reproduction in any medium, (OT) measurements using the Crawford classification scale. The results showed that
provided the original work is 40% of patients scored excellent, 30% good, 30% fair, and 0% poor. In addition, in
properly cited. terms of patient and HCP acceptance of the splint, nine of the ten patients stated
Publisher’s Note: AccScience that they would use the 3D-printed custom splint again, if needed, in the future. In
Publishing remains neutral with conclusion, a high level of patient and HCP acceptance signifies the clinical advantage
regard to jurisdictional claims in
published maps and institutional of using 3D-printed splints. This pilot study shows that advances in 3D printing could
affiliations. make custom splinting a viable option for use in personalized healthcare.

Volume 10 Issue 2 (2024) 518 doi: 10.36922/ijb.1963