3-D Heart Model Could Help Surgeons Detect Health Issues

Could a 3-D model of the heart be the guide to treating dangerous heart disorders? Research presented by the American Heart Association have found that this may provide a more efficient way for planning to treat certain heart abnormalities than taking invasive X-rays, ultrasounds or MRIs.

"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."

For the study, researchers used an inexpensive plaster composite material to compose heart models of a 9-month-old girl, 3-month-old boy and a woman in her 20s-all of whom dealt with complex heart defects. Fortunately, after the surgeons examined the new revolutionary models, they were able to successfully perform surgery on all three of the patients.

"The more prepared they are, the better decisions they make, and the fewer surprises that they encounter," concluded Bramlet, via WebMD. "When you're holding the heart model in your hands, it provides a new dimension of understanding that cannot be attained by 2-D or even 3-D images."

Researchers stressed that as the approach is new and that 3-D printing has not yet been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, the recent findings must be considered as preliminary results until they are published in a peer-reviewed journal.