3D printing technology has been put to creative use in order to aid surgeons in performing an operation on a small child's heart.
Roland Lian Ciung Bawi, who is 14 months old, has suffered multiple heart defects in his short life, with doctors struggling to precisely see these problems even using modern medical imaging technology, the Courier Journal reports.
In standard procedures, the surgeon would usually explore and repair damage during the heart operation, but medical practitioners in Roland's hospital in Louisville, Kentucky, US, took another approach.
Surgeon Erie Austin of the Kosair Children's Hospital said that using 2D scans of the tissue would be tricky to analyse, but perhaps a 3D model would yield more conclusive results. He went to the engineering school at the University of Louisville and secured the use of a MakerBot 3D printer and using the 2D data from Roland's CT scan made an enlarged, 3D model of the child's heart, making it easier for surgeons to see the problems they would have to deal with when they operate.
Roland was born with a hole in his heart, with deformation in his pulmonary artery and aorta. As his heart would have to be stopped for surgery and doctors would not be able to see the damage for themselves until the operation commenced, timing was critical and the 3D model allowed surgeons to prepare, using the time Roland was under as wisely as possible.
This is not the first time 3D printing has been used to create models to help doctors perform surgical procedures. Manager of the University of Louisville's Rapid Prototyping Laboratory Tim Gornet said the engineering school has already worked with doctors to create models of spinal defects and even tumors.
Austin remarked: "Once I had a model, I knew exactly what I needed to do and how I could do it. I found the model to be a game-changer in planning to do surgery on a complex congenital heart defect. It was a tremendous benefit."
