Health 4.0 technologies to develop customized external breast prostheses

The quality of life of mastectomized women has been extensively studied. Health 4.0 technologies, such as digitalization, 3D modeling, and additive manufacturing, have been explored in the virtual planning of prostheses production. Fusion and deposition modeling (FDM) is the most accessible process. This study presents a prototype-making method for the manufacturing of customized silicone external breast prostheses. The breast of a mannequin was scanned, and the design of the breast mold of two prostheses was created with the Meshmixer and Tinkercad software. A virtual mastectomy was performed to create the prosthetic counter mold to achieve a flush fit and to facilitate adherence. The prostheses molds were manufactured through the FDM process using low-cost 3D printers. The evaluated technologies of industry 4.0 have made it possible to produce customized external breast prostheses of good quality, reducing the number of steps of the conventional method.