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Surgical Planning and 3D bioprinting

Reporter: Irina Robu, PhD

The cardiovascular team at SSM Health Cardinal Glennon Children’s Hospital found a solution for better surgical planning using 3D printing. As a pediatric center, Glennon Children’s Hospital deals with the most complex patients, which requires surgeries within days or weeks of birth. According to the center, one of the pediatric patients was an infant diagnosed in utero via fetal ultrasound with an unusual form of switch of great arteries. Deoxygenated blue blood entered the right atrium which connected to the left ventricle, then to the aorta and the oxygenated red blood entered the left atrium which connects to the right ventricle and then to the pulmonary artery. The pediatric patients had a very large ventricular septal defect connecting both ventricles and severe narrowing between the left ventricle and the aorta.

It is obvious that the patient was fairly blue as deoxygenated blood was directed toward the aorta. The balloon atrial septostomy made in the first few days of life. Yet, the tachycardia persisted. The surgical team from SSM Health Cardinal Glennon Children’s Hospital, led by Charles Huddleston, MD used 3D printing to identify the anatomy of the patient clearly and provided them with the ability to repair the mitral valve. It seems that the neonatal atrial switch appeared to be the best plan, even if the operation proved challenging.

The team knew that they could go into the procedure knowing that the tissue can be safely removed without damage to the mitral valve. The team was able to show that the 3D model was essential in determining the optimal surgical approach and with the help of the 3D printed heart model, the neonatal atrial switch, the VSD closure and the subaortic stenosis resection was performed effectively on a 20-day infant. The surgery allowed the mitral valve function to remain intact. The pediatric patient cardiac function improved gradually and is expected to have an excellent recovery.

SOURCE

https://www.javelin-tech.com/3d/surgical-planning-3d-printed-heart/