Recently, Dr. David Frumberg, assistant professor of orthopedics and rehabilitation, found himself in a difficult situation. This is when he had to find out how to repair his patient’s left leg. His patient was a fourteen-year-old girl. Dr. Frumberg said that the girl has an anomalous connection between two bones. The girl was also missing a share of her tibia.
“Have you ever had pain on the outside of your foot? It’s awful, and she experiences that with every step,” he said. It is a difficult situation and the CT scans and X-rays were not providing him adequate information to carry on. The doctor wanted to understand this well and visited the Center for Engineering Innovation & Design (CEID). He went there to obtain a 3D-printed portrait of the joints.
Possessing the figure enabled him to take the issue into his hand, change it and assist him to find out what he couldn’t see.
“For me, the model helps in so many ways,” said Frumberg. “It helps me come up with a plan, it helps me figure out the relationships between all the different complex deformities, and what needs to be repaired and what doesn’t.”
This is among the many bone models that the doctor has had made at the CEID in the past year. These bone models are beneficial for very complicated situations and can lessen much guesswork. Also, when he opens a patient, there are not several surprised to handle on the fly. Frumberg said that each time he gets a model, it changes his plans 100 percent.
That is because his processes include various pieces. They also include pieces that usually don’t look appear like anything he has come across in previous circumstances. Many situations in the area of orthopedics come under the regular class. That means they need textbook-style understanding of regular treatments. The doctor practices in the other class.
Frumberg said that he does never examine the same patient. He also seldom does the identical operation. “My work is this: How do I take this uniquely abnormal limb and what can I do that’s best for the patient? It’s that kind of critical thinking that makes it interesting to me.” He said.
