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Spiegel Online Features Nia Technologies In Article “3D Printing Offers New Hope To Amputees”

Nia • Jan 31, 2018

 

We are proud to be featured in a story by Benjamin Breitegger and Jelca Kollatsch in Spiegel Online for our work to develop technology that enables orthopaedic clinicians to produce high-quality 3D printed prosthetics and orthotics. You can read the full story here.

 

A steady chorus of honking rises from the heavy, chaotic traffic in the Ugandan capital of Kampala. Drivers are happy to cut corners and even basic safety rules are ignored if a shortcut presents itself. Three years ago, Joan Gwokyalya found herself riding on the back of one of the tens of thousands of motorcycle taxis in the city as her driver wove in between the cars and buses.


Suddenly, she was thrown to the ground. And her life changed dramatically.


A bus had slammed into the motorcycle, killing the driver instantly. Gwokyalya survived, but doctors had to amputate her left leg below the knee. “I had a tetanus infection that began spreading in my leg,” Gwokyalya, who is now 25, recalls. She’s sitting in the garden of the CoRSU Rehabilitation Hospital, one of the leading orthopedic facilities in East Africa. And the place where her life, badly disrupted by the accident, got back on track.


In many developing countries, injuries sustained in traffic accidents are among the primary causes for amputations, along with diabetes, infections and tumors. Some are likewise born missing an arm or a leg, while others might be the victims of landmines. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that 30 million people living in developing countries require prosthetic limbs or other orthotic devices, but many are unable to afford them. Furthermore, many countries have a shortage of experts, material and prosthetic centers.


Recently, many specialists have begun placing their hopes in 3D printers, including those at CoRSU, where an orthopedic technician is scanning Gwokyalya’s stump. Using a hand-sized device, he scans the site of the amputation, with the results popping up on a laptop screen in real time. Gwokyalya is attentively watching every movement. She’s one of about 100 patients in Uganda who are taking part in a clinical study at the CoRSU hospital, which opened its doors in 2009 with the help of donations from countries around the world, including Germany. For the last two years, orthopedic technicians there — in cooperation with the Canadian NGO Nia Technologies and the University of Toronto — have been testing prosthetic sockets produced by a 3D printer.

Healing the wounds and trauma of the war in Ukraine

By Melanie Meloche-Holubowski, Radio Canada • 23 Feb, 2024
In Lviv, the Unbroken National Rehabilitation Center has already treated more than 16,000 wounded civilians and soldiers, including 2,000 children. More than 100,000 surgeries have been done. "Everyone is on adrenaline. Everyone is motivated. We are in survival mode. We do it because our friends, our parents, our husbands are on the battlefield", says M aryana Svirchuk from Unbroken . It is estimated that more than 10,000 Ukrainian civilians and 70,000 soldiers have been killed since Russia invaded on February 24, 2022. Nearly 19,000 civilians and 100,000 soldiers were reportedly injured. When the war began, the regional civilian hospital had to quickly change course to meet demand, but the staff had little experience in treating war wounds. In addition, the city's hospital has had to adapt to a very large volume of new patients – thousands of Ukrainians who have fled the fighting in the west to settle in Lviv. ...... For the complete story, please follow this link .

A Canadian-donated 3D printer is making artificial limbs for Ukrainian soldiers so they can walk, run – and fight again

By The Globe and Mail - Eric Reguly • 29 Oct, 2023
Amid the tragedies of the war in Ukraine , t here are small victories, small incidents of hope that inspire and rally the defenders. One of those moments came on Sunday in Kyiv, when war amputees fitted with prosthetic legs took part in a charity race that made crowds cheer with pride.  The race, organized by the Nova Post express delivery company and billed as the “World’s Longest Marathon” – a reference to the 3,359 days that have passed since the war started with Russia’s invasion of Crimea in 2014 – included 15 amputees who were given new limbs in the Unbroken National Rehabilitation Center at St. Panteleimon hospital in Lviv. One of them, Serhii Yevtushenko, walked and ran his one-kilometre event with a prosthesis made from a Canadian-donated 3D printer that was recently installed at Unbroken. “I had no problem with my new Canadian leg,” he told The Globe and Mail after the race. “Morally, this event felt good and I would like to thank Canada.” ...... For the complete story, please follow this link .
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