There’s no shortage of heartwarming stories made possible with 3D printing and a story coming out of Northern Ireland is as heartwarming as the best of them. Thanks to 3D printed pre-surgical models and the love of her own father, three-year-old Lucy Boucher will be able to live a relatively healthy and normal life.
According to the Belfast Telegraph, when Lucy experienced heart failure as a result of an irregular heart beat, her kidneys, and entire body, were deprived of oxygen. While her heart condition was treated through one surgery, kidney failure set the young girl up for a lifetime of dialysis. That is, until a team of doctors, from Guy’s and St Thomas’ Hospital and Great Ormond Street Hospital, stepped in to perform a kidney transplant with a donation from her own father, Chris Boucher.
Such a surgery in itself is not unheard of, but the use of 3D printing to aid in an adult-to-child kidney transplant is a world first. To prepare for this life-changing procedure, models of her father’s kidney and Lucy’s abdomen, created from CT and MRI scans, were 3D printed on a Stratasys Objet 3D printer. These prints allowed the surgical team to accurately plan what would be a complicated operation and, in turn, minimize the risks involved.
Chris Boucher says of the process, “When I first saw the models I was taken aback by the level of detail that’s in them. It really helped me get an idea in my head of what was going to happen. My first reaction when I saw the 3D printout of my kidney was surprise at how big it was and I wondered how it could possibly fit into Lucy. Seeing the model of her abdomen and the way the kidney was going to be transplanted inside her gave me a clear understanding of exactly what was going to happen. It helped ease my concerns and it was hugely reassuring to know that the surgeons could carry out such detailed planning ahead of the operation.”
The surgery, performed in November of last year, was only four-hours-long, with both the donor and recipient making a full recovery. Though Lucy could have continued to live undergoing dialysis three times a week, the process is an undue burden on a patient so young and, gradually, can lead to long-term medical complications. With her daughter set to attend nursery school next year, Lucy’s mother, Ciara, says, “Considering all the potential complications it’s fantastic that everything has gone so well – it’s a massive relief. The transplant is life-changing for Lucy.”
Pankaj Chandak, the transplant registrar at Guy’s and St Thomas’ who conceived of the use of 3D printing in this case, explained how the technology will aid the hospitals in the future, “Our exciting new use of 3D printed models to help plan highly complex kidney transplant surgery in children brings all sorts of important advantages for our patients and the surgical team. The most important benefit is to patient safety. The 3D printed models allow informative, hands-on planning, ahead of the surgery with replicas that are the next best thing to the actual organs themselves. This means surgeons are better placed than before to prepare for the operation and to assess what surgical approach will offer the greatest chance of a safe and successful transplant.”
Anyone who’s undergone similarly complicated procedures or had a complex surgery performed on a loved one will understand the potential for such advanced planning with 3D printing. Reducing complications and cutting surgical times will reduce the uncertainty experienced in a hospital waiting room so that news of a successful operation will become less of a relief to nervous family members and more of an expectation.
