BOSTON -- If you've ever had an injury that required a fitted brace or prosthetic, you know getting the right fit can be a messy, intricate and time-consuming task.
NewsCenter 5's Rhonda Mann reported that a high-tech scanner is taking measurements quickly with incredible precision -- and without the need for a plaster cast.
Three bundles of joy blessed the Payne family last summer. But as they grew, even the boys' sisters noticed that two of the babies' heads weren't developing normally. They were becoming flat in the back.
"Over time, I would look at their heads, and I would think something wasn't right, and it was getting worse," Peggy Payne said.
The solution was cranial helmets, which are usually fitted through a plaster mold. But now, there's the Insignia high-tech scanner.
In just about one minute, it records a three-dimensional image of the patient's head. Even with a child who isn't likely to sit still, it delivers accuracy of up to one millimeter.
"You don't have to remove a cast. You don't have distortion of that cast when it's coming off. You have the ability to make changes instantaneously, where we never had that ability in the past," spokesman Luke Richards said.
The system makes a permanent record of the area that can be e-mailed to other specialists, or the fabrication facility itself, meaning the patients get their devices much faster.
The technology can also be used to make a mold for artificial limbs, or back or limb braces.
"We look at it as improving comfort for the patient. And it does save us time, so we're spending much more time creating clinical care and plans for the patient," Michael Domenicucci said.
The Payne boys were among the first in New England to utilize the technology. They've been wearing the helmets for about a month. Their tiny heads are already taking better shape.
"It's fantastic. I couldn't imagine what it would be like to have triplets in here and sit here through two babies being cast," Payne said.
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Rhonda Mann Reports On Technology
