3D model of a boys heart speeds up life-saving operation
Ron Czapala
Posts: 2,418
http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2014/02/3d-model-of-a-boys-heart-speeds-up-life-saving-operation/
Video: http://www.courier-journal.com/article/20140221/NEWS01/302210103/Child-s-heart-fixed-Kosair-Children-s-Hospital-help-3-D-printing
Surgeons in Louisville, KY leverage a MakerBot Replicator 2X to see a tiny organ.
Operating on a child's heart is a challenging procedure. Not only is the organ (presumably) defective, but it's also small, complex, and delicate. So when Louisville, KY heart surgeon Erle Austin was preparing to operate on 14-month-old Roland Lian Cung Bawi's heart, he first showed the scans of the muscle to two other surgeons, both of whom gave him conflicting advice on how to proceed, according to the Courier-Journal.
Then, Austin turned to the University of Louisvilles engineering school, which hooked him up with a MakerBot Replicator 2X. (From the video, it seems that the engineers had better luck with their 3D MakerBot printers than Ars ever did.) Using a computer model generated by the boy's radiologist, the engineers fed the MakerBot with a new kind of flexible polymer that's similar in consistency to heart muscle, Timothy Gornet, manager of the rapid prototyping center at U of L, told the Courier-Journal. They printed out three cross-sections of the heart, blown up to-scale, so that the surgeons could see the interior.
The model helped the surgical team cut down on operating time and reduce exploratory surgeries. The surgeons are also fairly certain that Roland, whose surgery was on Feb. 10, won't need to have follow-up procedures. Once I had a model, I knew exactly what I needed to do and how I could do it, Austin told the Courier-Journal. It was a tremendous benefit.
Video: http://www.courier-journal.com/article/20140221/NEWS01/302210103/Child-s-heart-fixed-Kosair-Children-s-Hospital-help-3-D-printing
Surgeons in Louisville, KY leverage a MakerBot Replicator 2X to see a tiny organ.
Operating on a child's heart is a challenging procedure. Not only is the organ (presumably) defective, but it's also small, complex, and delicate. So when Louisville, KY heart surgeon Erle Austin was preparing to operate on 14-month-old Roland Lian Cung Bawi's heart, he first showed the scans of the muscle to two other surgeons, both of whom gave him conflicting advice on how to proceed, according to the Courier-Journal.
Then, Austin turned to the University of Louisvilles engineering school, which hooked him up with a MakerBot Replicator 2X. (From the video, it seems that the engineers had better luck with their 3D MakerBot printers than Ars ever did.) Using a computer model generated by the boy's radiologist, the engineers fed the MakerBot with a new kind of flexible polymer that's similar in consistency to heart muscle, Timothy Gornet, manager of the rapid prototyping center at U of L, told the Courier-Journal. They printed out three cross-sections of the heart, blown up to-scale, so that the surgeons could see the interior.
The model helped the surgical team cut down on operating time and reduce exploratory surgeries. The surgeons are also fairly certain that Roland, whose surgery was on Feb. 10, won't need to have follow-up procedures. Once I had a model, I knew exactly what I needed to do and how I could do it, Austin told the Courier-Journal. It was a tremendous benefit.
Comments
Having an actual model that can be examined, maybe even practiced upon eliminates the hazards of mis-interpreting data. In a world where doctors are under a lot of stress to perform, this kind of modeling is a good thing.
This makes me wonder if the image slices from our 3D X-Ray that are used to generate a 3D image could also be used for 3D printing a large BGA's solderjoints.