Hospital officials at the Kosair Children’s Hospital have stated that 3D printing was used to support an infant pediatric heart patient for the first time recently. Doctors operating on baby Rolande, a 14-month-old with heart defects studied a three dimensional replica of the child’s heart to aid successful surgery outcomes. The infant’s heart was riddled with defects before the surgery at the Hospital and his surgeon, Dr. Erle Austin, said that he had anticipated that the surgery would be tricky and thus sought a model that offered more detail than traditional 2D scans.
Dr. Austin’s team contacted the University of Louisville J.B. Speed School of Engineering, which used a 3D printer to create a polymer model of the heart to provide vital insight ahead of the planned surgery.
Once he had a model, it was clear what needed to be done and how he could do it. The Cardiothoracic surgeon was able to reduce exploratory incisions, reduce overall operating time and also even ensure that Roland would not require any sequential or consequential follow-up operations for this relatively high-risk surgery.
Roland, the son of Par Tha Sung and Sang Ceu Lian of Owensboro, Kentucky, U.S.A., was born with heart problems that included a hole in his heart, as well as misaligned aorta and pulmonary arteries, which, if left untreated, would have been fatal.
The engineering team behind this wonderful application of 3D printing created the model and end-use 3D print in just 20 hours on a MakerBot Replicator 2X desktop 3D printer.
