One of the recent wonders of 3D printing involve the use of a 3D printed heart model to perform a heart surgery on a 14-month child. The model had been made by the joint collaboration between University of Louisville and J.B. Speed School of Engineering, from a CT scan of the patient. The 3D model was used to assist doctors to better plan the complex surgical operation.
Roland Lian Cung Baw was a little boy who was born with four congenital heart defects. He was in treatment at the Kosair Children’s Hospital. It seemed difficult to remove all these defects using a single heart surgery. Philip Dydysnki, the chief of radiology at the hospital, approached the J.B. Speed School of Engineering for a 3D printed model of the heart of the patient, so that it could help the doctors to better understand the defects and plan a surgery. To start with, the CT scan of Roland’s heart were provided to the school, who immediately set out to print a model of Ronald’s heart, 1.5 times the actual size. The heart was eventually printed in 3 parts using a soft material having properties similar to that of a heart tissue. The 3D printed model costed only $600 and 20 hours of hard work. Cardiothoracic surgeon Erle Austin III, then used this model to plan the surgery. All the four defects were repaired using a single surgery. As a result of the successful surgery, Ronald was soon released from the hospital. You can see the video below for more details.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ch5_ALrbzno[/youtube]
Indeed, here we the 3D printing in the service of the humanity. We are very happy that Ronald will now be able to live a very happy and fulfilled life. Would you recommend any friend of yours this type of medical treatment?