A 3-D printed model of the heart could lead to better treatments for patients born with dangerous heart disorders.
In the past heart surgeons have used 2-D images taken from X-rays, ultrasounds and MRIs to plan difficult surgeries, the American Heart Association reported. This new innovation will allow medical researchers to build 3-D models of hearts with even the most complicated structural abnormalities from materials such as plaster and ceramic.
"With 3-D printing, surgeons can make better decisions before they go into the operating room," said Matthew Bramlet, study lead author and assistant professor of pediatric cardiology and director of the Congenital Heart Disease MRI Program at the University of Illinois College of Medicine in Peoria. "The more prepared they are, the better decisions they make, and the fewer surprises that they encounter."
The researchers used an inexpensive plaster composite material to create heart models of a 9-month -old girl, 3-year-old boy, and a woman in her 20s, all of whom had complex congenital heart defects. After looking at the revolutionary new models surgeons were able to perform successful surgeries on all three patients.
"You could see that if you make this compromise here, you could fix this problem, and go from a single-ventricle to a two-ventricle repair," Bramlet said. "That is the difference, potentially, between a life expectancy of two to three decades, to four, five or six decades."
The researchers noted the study was extremely small and requires future insight, and the new 3D printing method has not yet been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
The findings were presented at the American Heart Association's Scientific Sessions 2014. The University's collaborator, the Jump Trading Simulation and Education Center in Peoria, made the printer available for the study.
