Tropes

www.technology.org 2015 000016.txt

#3d printed Heart Model Makes Surgery Safer and Less Dangerous Three-dimensional printing technology has just found yet another use, this time it heart surgery. When planning for an invasive procedure, surgeons are limited often to two-dimensional MRI and CT (computerized tomography) images, which can lead them to form a widely inaccurate view of their patient physiology. Although three-dimensional images are also now available, these can still fail to capture all of the relevant details. Confronted with a rare and particularly difficult case of congenital heart failure, Richard Kim, MD, from the Children Hospital of Los angeles (CHLA) took a step forward and ordered a fully-3d model of his patient heart. s useful as scans are for visualizing structural defects, there nothing like holding a life-sized, three-dimensional replica in your hands, said Jon Detterich, MD, who gathered both 2d and 3d MRI scans and turned them into a format that the 3d printer can read. Kim patient Esther Perez was born with a ventricular septal defect (a physical hole in the wall which divides the left and right ventricles of the heart muscle) a fairly common heart condition. Her particular case, however, was required unusual and complex surgery, currently performed at only a handful of pediatric hospitals in the US. Studying the heart model allowed Kim to accurately plan the procedure thereby increasing safety and making follow-up surgery unnecessary. nstead of opening the chest and making a decision about how to proceed, I could immediately begin fixing the problem, said Kim, who is also an Assistant professor at the Keck School of medicine at the University of Southern California. 3d model allowed me to plan the surgery in advance, which meant Esther spent less time in surgery and received less anesthesia, making the procedure safer. Frank Ing, MD, Chief of Cardiology and co-director of the Heart Institute at CHLA, thinks that since only a small number of 3d models have been used for heart surgery, the jury is still out whether they actually improve surgical outcomes, but added that? our experience suggest that using models saves time in the OR, which means increased safety and decreased costs. The use of 3d models is also likely to translate into a need for fewer surgeries and allow children to spend less time recuperating in intensive care. Thanks to this innovative technique, Esther made a speedy recovery and is expected to live a life free of medical complications. Otherwise she would have required multiple surgeries during the first years of her life. In addition to surgical planning, 3d printing has also been used for other medical applications according to a recent article on Med Device Online oncologists were able to use a 3d printed model that mimics the density of organs in a patient body, which allowed to more accurately determine an appropriate dose of radiation. As 3d printing becomes cheaper, medical professionals are hoping to include 3d printers into their regular toolset i

< Back - Next >