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Metamason: Revolutionizing CPAP Masks With 3D Scanning and 3D Printing
First time accepted submitter Leslie Oliver Karpas writes As millions of Americans with Obstructive Sleep Apnea struggle to get a good night's sleep, one company has harnessed 3D technology to revolutionize CPAP therapy. As 3ders.org reported today, "Metamason is working on custom CPAP masks for sleep apnea patients via 3D scanning, smart geometry, and 3D printing." "We're at the crossroads of 3D technology and personalized medicine," says Metamason's founder and CEO. "There are many medical products that would be infinitely more comfortable and effective with a customized fit. CPAP therapy is the perfect example—it's a very effective treatment with a 50% quit rate, because mass-produced masks are uncomfortable and don't fit properly." CPAP is a respiratory device worn during sleep to treat OSA, which affects 1 in 4 men and 1 in 9 women in the US alone. Metamason's "ScanFitPrint" process for creating their custom Respere masks translates a 3D scan of the patient's face into a 3D printed custom mask that is a perfect individual fit. To print the masks in soft, biocompatible silicone, Metamason invented a proprietary 3D printing process called Investment Molding, which creates wholly integrated products that were previously considered "unmoldable."
Or buy stock in the company?
more cowbell
This seems like a sensible approach, I just hope that it isn't accompanied by a raft of broad and dubious patents that purport to cover pretty much any 'printing something to fit someone' application. That would both serve as ammunition against a broad range of printing applications and be unjustified given the things that have already been 3d printed for medical applications(usually on a small scale). If they have something more specific, covering programmatically generating customized deformable shapes for best fit, or some elegant manufacturing twist, that may well be all good; but it would be unfortunate to see something overbroad.
The overall design is... Nice. A couple clever bits. But custom printing and all that? Nonsense. They're showing the worst of the CPAP masks. I tried them too, they suck. Then you inevitably complain, and the company selling you supplies give you Nasal Pillows (image for the confused: http://www.soundoxygen.com/wp-...). Works great, comes in 3 sizes. Bam, done.
"Sometimes a woman is a kind of religion, she can save your soul & set you free from all your sins" - Bad Examples
U.S. Medical Device Industry In Critical Condition
The United States has been the global leader in medical devices, one of the few major industries that both boasts a net trade surplus and is a job-creator. The sector employs 400,000 Americans directly and is indirectly responsible for almost 2 million more that supply and support the highly-skilled workforce. Most important, its products are essential elements of modern medical care, including everything from CT scanners and pacemakers to blood pressure cuffs and robots used by surgeons.
But all of that is in jeopardy. The medical device industry is being ravaged by unwise public policy, including a devastating 2.3% excise tax took effect on Jan 1 as part of ObamaCare. This tax, which has already required the payment of more than $1 billion by device manufacturers, is especially pernicious because it is assessed on gross sales, not profits. To put this in perspective, imagine that you’re a manufacturer of medical devices and had a profit of $100,000 on sales of $1 million after all your costs and expenses—everything from materials and labor to research. The excise tax would be $23,000, wiping out almost a quarter of your profits. .....
The nation’s medical device industry is vulnerable. It is not comprised of behemoths: 80% of its companies have 50 or fewer employees, the very businesses we are relying on to turn the U.S. economy around. The new excise tax comes on top of increased stringency and delays at both the FDA and the U.S. Patent Office, and at the same time that many device firms are shutting down or moving abroad to take advantage of the more favorable tax and regulatory climate in Europe. The tax is forcing companies to lay off employees, cut back on research and development, and reduce capital investment.
The Times They Are A Changing
One sector that is seeing a rapid investment drop is healthcare and devices. That has hurt the North Carolina VC industry harder than it hurt Boston. It’s also subject to some longer term trends. Obamacare has a medical device tax buried in it-and it has caused money to pull back from taking risk in healthcare while everything gets sorted out. The FDA is a horrible bureaucratic organization to deal with, and they have made it hard to innovate
much of left-wing thought is a kind of playing with fire by people who don't even know that fire is hot - George Orwell
' Metamason invented a proprietary 3D printing process called Investment Molding'
I'm sorry, but I dont think so, its only of the oldest casting processes there is:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Investment_casting
I am going to assume they think they invented it by either 3d printing either the original material, or the mould directly.
And then I assume they call it moulding instead of casting as they use silicone not metal (of course..).
This is a VERY common process these days - what exactly have they 'invented' here? sounds to me like a business process
of making the moulds/masks to fit each client - revolutionary!
So how much should a 5-foot-6-inch male weigh in order to avoid obstructive sleep apnea? 120 pounds? 100? 80?
Does this have something to do with all the little advertisements that say CPAP and seem to have a mask crudely edited into a photograph?
I think that Newsmax, 'linkbait for reactionary old people', is behind much of that. They are ostensibly a political thing; but their advertising leans heavily into (sometimes rather dubious) tabloid medical reporting when there isn't a good red-meat issue to run banner ads about.
nasal pillows do not work for many people.
Idiot.
Scruting the inscrutable for over 50 years.
I don't agree that nasal pillows are the solution to all CPAP interface issues. I tried them and preferred a nasal mask to the pillows for overall fit and comfort.
I do agree that custom 3D printing is nonsense to the problem. It would be much like people complaining that one pair of shoes were uncomfortable, and just deciding that 3D printing everyone's shoes to their exact foot is the answer. Or maybe they should just have tried on a different size, width, or style to find a better fit.
I have the most severe sleep apnea and am one of the 50% quit rate. Last year I got myself the AVEO TSD and it's been amazing. (No, I don't work in advertising for the company, I'm just a normal person who understands how dibilitating sleep apnea is and want to tell as many people as possible about something that truly works.) This 3-D printed mask may help a lot of people, but I think using the technology to print customized tongue suppression devices would serve us better.
Look for a hybrid apnea mask. Has nasal pillows and a lower portion that covers the mouth.
Jesus was all right but his disciples were thick and ordinary. -John Lennon
> when you could eliminate your apnea by losing weight?
Because not everyone with sleep apnea has it because of weight issues.
Some people have deviated septum that cause the problem. Others like myself, have too much flesh in their nasal cavaties. I'm 6'2 and 170 pounds, and have always been told since I was 10 that I strop breathing in my sleep. Even after surgeries to remove my left nasal cavity wall, I still require a mask to stop me from snoring and choking at night.
When being fitted for mine, they had all the varieties lined up with pillows at then end. I *knew* before I ever got there that the pillows were the only solution for me. How could anything fit better than the one with the minimal amount of contact? I love my CPAP because I went 4 decades before being diagnosed and then they found I had over 50 events per hour. Several years later and I swear my health is still improving because this serious problem was finally discovered. I do believe the pillows could be improved though. Three sizes is insufficient. I'd like to see careful measurements of nostril spacing and diameter and be fitted that way, similiar to how eyeglasses are done. I am curious why pillows won't work for some though.
it's a very effective treatment with a 50% quit rate
...or, it's a 50% effective treatment, and the 50% who it doesn't help just aren't willing to continue to use it for months like their doctor would like them to, despite their doctor's claim that "it's a highly effective treatment, it'll work if you just stick with it long enough." If you believe that, you should know that sending me $20 a month is a highly effective way to become rich. Those who fail to become rich simply fail because they don't stick with the plan.
Same thing with CPAP. Blame the patients for the failures and it's a 100% effective treatment.
To be fair, not all Sleep Apnea is due to obesity. However, about 60 or 70 % of adult Sleep Apnea is weight related.Alcohol consumption and smoking apparently also play a role.
You could argue that it is a self-inflicted condition for most people.Since most people can't lose weight and keep it off long term I guess you are stuck with the mask. Do you sound like Darth Vader when you wear it?
None of them can see the clouds; The polished wings don't care.
My late wife could have used something like that for her BIPAP.
General Relativity: Space-time tells matter where to go; Matter tells space-time what shape to be.
I'm sure there are serious cases of sleep apnea but it seems to be over-diagnosed lately. Mild cases used to be called snoring but now doctors and the highly profitable sleep clinics (some owned by doctors, others by hospitals) seem to be identifying snoring as moderate apnea and are recommending CPAP masks for it. Perhaps it would be better to try other apnea reduction methods first. I've read that back sleepers should try side sleeping for better nighttime breathing. And there are also pillows that lift the nape of the neck to keep the airway open at night. I'm wary of the dental appliances that do a similar thing since they might cause dental alignment problems when used long term. I suppose the insurance companies will sort it out eventually. It's amusing to watch the doctors vs. insurance companies battles unless you're someone who is affected. Regarding apnea, does anyone know where to get data on the percentage of people visiting sleep clinics who are diagnosed with it?
Note that there is a chart presented in the video accompanying the article that says people with moderate to severe apnea are as likely or more likely to die than those who smoke 20+ cigarettes a day but the units on the x-axis aren't labeled. 5 what? 10 what? Am I misreading something?
I am curious why pillows won't work for some though.
For me, it's the same reason a nasal mask doesn't work: Air comes out my mouth. I looked this up on the internet, and apparently people either let their tongue touch the top of their mouth, or use some chin strap thing to keep their mouth shut. In any event, the impression I get is that it simply isn't a serious issue for other people. I'm not talking about a little bit of leakage. As soon as I fall asleep and stop consciously keeping the air from escaping my mouth, it all escapes from my mouth. ...but I don't know, maybe there's some undocumented solution to this problem that I don't know about since I can't seem to find a sleep doctor who isn't a quack and therefore insists that because I never remain asleep for a full ten seconds of not breathing before waking up that my sleep issues must be psychological. Who knows what they might tell me if they'd just decide they could help me.
I have a full face mask which is useless as all hell. I suspect a lot of the reason is that probably much of how the therapy is supposed to help is by forcing the tongue and lower jaw forward, but if you have the mask covering that area, there's no pressure differential, and indeed, the mask is just pushing the jaw further back.
Out of desperation I wasted some $70 on a cheap nasal "pillows" mask which, if I could name it, I'd call it a nasal rocks mask. Bits of slightly rubbery plastic with a few replaceable pieces of different sizes, but none of which address the fact that the center of my nose sticks down further than the sides. So once I have them in there and holding pressure, I have to carefully not move my head for fear of upsetting the delicate balance, and then I still get to wake up two hours later feeling like I've had a clothespin on that center part of my nose that sticks down. ...but by that point usually the duct tape preventing air from escaping my mouth is wearing off, so it's time to give up anyway.
Anyway, if a nasal mask could work for me, having one that is custom-designed from a 3D scan would likely solve my problems with the fit. I'm actually surprised people think this isn't a big deal. Noses vary in shape a lot, and so a nasal pillows mask is going to benefit from a 3D scan and 3D printing far more than other mask types would.
I'm sure there are serious cases of sleep apnea but it seems to be over-diagnosed lately.
Can you tell me who is over-diagnosing it? I've seen two sleep specialists, and had three sleep studies between them, but can't get a diagnosis. At this point I'd be quite happy with a quack who has only made the diagnosis because he's an idiot since at least that would open up some treatment options.
I know I have it because it isn't that hard to diagnose. Just strap a mask to your face with a nice one centimeter hole for breathing and a pressure sensor to detect the minor changes in pressure under the mask as you're breathing. Combined with a home-built EEG, it's pretty simple to see what happens when I'm asleep: During every period of REM sleep, my airway becomes restricted, then I awaken, breathing returns to normal, then I fall right back into REM sleep, and it repeats. Can't get a diagnosis for it because, for some dumb-fuck reason, the criteria for diagnosis of sleep apnea has fuck-all to do with whether you sleep well and everything to do with whether you breathe well. Thus, as long as I keep waking up in order to continue to breathe, the doctors don't see a problem. SpO2 never drops more than 2 or 3 percentage points, they like to see it drop at least 4. Occasionally there's a period where respiration will stop long enough for their "it must be 10 seconds or it doesn't count" rule, but usually in response to that I wake up completely and can't fall asleep again for an hour. However, even if I did, its unlikely I'd meet their "five apneas per hour" criteria since they count total sleep time buy my problem only occurs during REM sleep.
As others noted elsewhere, not all sleep apnea sufferers are obese. I found it a lot easier to control my appetite and exercise more often after I got my CPAP machine, and I'm starting to lose a little weight without extraordinary effort - of course the first ten pounds is always the easiest. So it's not clear to me whether sleep apnea is caused by my obesity or vice versa.