How 3D printers help aide medical teams in complex procedures
It’s not a new technology, but as 3D printing improves, so does safety in the operating room.
A Chicago area medical team is using the plastic models to treat the human heart.
Multiple machines serve multiple disciplines at Endeavor Health. A medical-grade printer — that uses a combination of materials and colors — creates even higher resolution structures when more detail is necessary.
John Cram is Endeavor Health’s program simulation manager at the Grainger Center for Simulation and Innovation.
“We’ve printed kidneys, we’ve printed bones for orthopedic surgeons,” he said.
And heart parts.
Recently the team showed WGN what will be an exact replica of a patient’s left atrial appendage – an outpouching that serves no functional purpose in the heart. But in people with a common arrhythmia, the area can pose a danger.
Dr Jonathan Rosenberg is a cardiologist at Endeavor Health.
“The blood clots can form in this place, and they can cause stroke,” he said.
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In some cases, doctors use a special device to fill the small cavity.
A small gap can form and allow blood to leak, a rare and complex problem.
“We saw that it was kind of a crescent shaped hole, and it would need more than one plug,” Rosenberg said. “When you are starting to use more than one it becomes much more structurally challenging.”
That’s where accurate 3D models can play a critical role in care.
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Size and shape matter when making tiny adjustments in critical structures.
“That’s so important because if the model doesn’t mimic the actually anatomy of the heart, then it won’t be as helpful to us and it is right on point,” Rosenberg said. “I don’t think I could have imagined it a long time ago, but 3D printing is an amazing technology and now it’s use in the medical field has really been transformative.”
The team is also using the models for heart valve repair and replacement and to treat holes in the heart.
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