A new Imperial College London project will help develop custom-made 3D printed breathing masks for children using ventilators at home.

The funding will enable a team from Imperial and Sheffield Children's Hospital to develop a fully automated way of creating non-invasive ventilation (NIV) masks for children. The funding comes from children’s charity Action Medical Research (supported by the VTCT Foundation) and charitable medical research organisation LifeArc.  

It is incredibly important that the masks are personalised to help every child who needs this treatment Dr Connor Myant Dyson School of Design Engineering

More than 2,000 children in the UK use NIV machines at home for conditions such as sleep apnoea, or neuromuscular conditions like cerebral palsy which may mean they can’t breathe adequately at night. For these children, NIV machines are used to provide long or short-term breathing support for children in the comfort of their own homes. 

NIV machines help by delivering air to the lungs via a face mask connected with tubing. The treatment can significantly improve the quality of life and life expectancy of children and young people, and reduces the number of both hospital admissions and days spent in hospital.  

However, many children have trouble finding NIV masks that adequately fit their faces, particularly when they have facial differences that mean mass-produced, one-size-fits-all masks don’t work as well as they should. Poorly fitting masks can deliver ineffective ventilation, which can sometimes result in severe complications such as low oxygen levels and heart failure, and in some cases can lead to a premature death. 

This new funding will help Imperial and Sheffield Children Hospital researchers to address ill-fitting masks for children. Using a handheld 3D scanner, a clinician captures a detailed 3D map of the patient’s face. Once the 3D scan has been collected, the computer automatically extracts the relevant topographical information, such as the bridge of the nose and cheek bones, required for the mask to be customised. Key facial landmarks are then used to align the scan of the face to a universal template. 

We are very pleased to be taking part in this project which supports our long-standing work on developing customised NIV masks for children. Automating the process will enable masks to be made more quickly which will mean more children can receive this important treatment. Professor Heather Elphick Sheffield Children's Hospital

The data is then fed into a computer aided design (CAD) model that enables the personalised mask to be 3D printed using skin safe materials, without incurring the large costs usually associated with design changes. 

The work will be done in collaboration with industry partners Photocentric and Polymetrix. 

Imperial lead Dr Connor Myant, from Imperial’s Dyson School of Design Engineering, said: “We are delighted that this project is going ahead. 

“It is incredibly important that the masks are personalised to help every child who needs this treatment, so that their mask is as comfortable as possible, and so that it provides them with the best possible breathing support. Poorly fitted masks can mean children aren’t getting the level of breathing support they need and that can sometimes lead to severe complications.” 

Professor Heather Elphick from Sheffield Children Hospital said: “We are very pleased to be taking part in this project which supports our long-standing work on developing customised NIV masks for children. Automating the process will enable masks to be made more quickly which will mean more children can receive this important treatment.” 

The researchers anticipate that customising face masks for NIV will provide better fitting, more comfortable masks and therefore a better response to treatment while ensuring patients keep using the ventilators. They hope the customised face masks will provide more evenly distributed contact pressure between the mask and skin, and therefore lower the likelihood of pressure-related skin trauma like rashes or sores.  

In addition, the customised masks are likely to cater for a far greater variation in face shapes of children who need NIV, as each tailored mask is unrestricted by set sizes or dimensions. 

Dr Caroline Johnson from Action Medical Research said: “We are pleased to be funding this innovative and vital research which we hope will lead to customised face masks becoming more readily available for all children who need them, and improve effectiveness of NIV, and children’s quality of life.” 

Dr Catriona Crombie from LifeArc said: “Ensuring children and young people have masks that fit them properly when ventilating at home will improve their quality of life and potentially save their lives. Delivering impact like this for patients lies at the heart of what LifeArc does and why we’re delighted to fund and support this project.” 

The researchers plan to launch the study in March 2024 and hope to begin testing their technology with patients in by the summer.