3D Printed Stethoscope to Overcome Medical Supply Shortage
A Palestinian-Canadian doctor has now designed a low-cost stethoscope using a 3D printer, the first in a series of inventions he hopes will help alleviate medical supply shortages caused, in part, by an eight-year blockade on the Gaza Strip.
Since its introduction in 1819 by René Laennec, the acoustic stethoscope has been an integral part of clinical medicine. Despite the lack of major structural design innovations over recent decades, modern stethoscopes can be an expensive part of the physician’s armamentarium, often costing several hundred US dollars.
The high cost of modern stethoscopes remains a significant barrier to physicians and allied health professionals practicing in the developed word and in low- and middle-income countries, where few affordable high-quality options exist.
The first in what he hopes will be a line of 3D-printed medical supplies produced by his open-source organisation the Glia Project, Dr Loubani said the stethoscope can be made for just $2.50 (£1.62).
Furthermore, the doctors who have tested out the equipment have said it is as effective as stethoscopes by leading brands, despite being a fraction of the price.
The Glia project was born sometime after the 2012 Israeli incursions into Gaza, where
Loubani and his medical colleagues were in short supply of the life-saving equipment and forced to listen to the heartbeats of scores of wounded Gazans with ears placed on chests.“I had to hold my ear to the chests of victims because there were no good stethoscopes, and that was a tragedy, a travesty, and unacceptable,” Loubani told the Chaos Communications Camp in Zehdenick, Germany. “We made a list of these things that if I could bring them into Gaza, into the third world in which I work and live, then I felt like I could change the lives of my patients.
“I wanted the people I work with to take it, and to print it, and to improve it because I knew all I wanted to do was bring the idea.”
The stethoscope, called the Glia model, was made using free open source software to keep costs low and allow others to easily access the code. With the Glia template, the stethoscope can be made in less than three hours and can be produced by anyone with a 3D printer and access to ABS – a plastic used to make garden chairs and Lego – can create the device. The results of the study show it has the same acoustic quality as the best stethoscopes on the market.
The device also consists of a plastic tube found in Coca-Cola machines, which Loubani said are all also found everywhere, and a circular piece of plastic from a common Duo-Tang folder that serves as the stethoscope’s chest piece or diaphragm.
“We really want everybody to be able to access these devices,” he said. “I’m not interested in getting rich or selling these devices to anybody, nor do I think this is the way to do it, instead what I want, is for every patient to be able to receive the same care that my patients in Canada can receive.”
“Use of the open source approach in every aspect of this project contributes powerfully to the body of medical device research,” said Gabriella Coleman, PhD, noted scholar on technology and open source software. “This research gives a guide for others to create medical-grade open access devices that can reduce costs and ultimately save lives.”
Loubani foresees a future in which lifesaving medical devices, like dialysis machines and electrocardiograms, can be 3D printed around the world for a fraction of their former cost. Inspired by the open source software movement, he keeps all his code on GitHub and encourages doctors and hardware hackers to contribute to the project in a collaborative way.
The device is currently in clinical use by physicians and allied health professionals in Gaza and is also being trialled clinically at the London Health Sciences Centre, in London, Ontario.
