Wednesday, February 26, 2014

3D Printing Saves Life



The field, or better yet – art, of 3D printing has come a long way. Just days ago, the 3D printing of a model heart helped save an infant's life. At the Kosair Children’s Hospital in Louisville Kentucky, 14 month old Roland Lian Cung Bawi was known to have many heart problems. While CT and MRI scans are useful in many ways, they do not provide the true visual depth that one sees when they are actually performing an operation. Using many of these scans cumulatively however, The University of Lousiville's engineering department was able to construct a 3D model of Roland's exact heart printed in a material similar to the consistency of a real heart.

By examining the model print, Roland's doctors were easily able to diagnose him with a double outlet right ventricle. Instead of going in blind and scrambling to come up with the perfect plan while in the middle of a high stress surgery, Roland's doctors were able to plan their mode of attack before making any incisions. This allowed for a smooth surgery where the doctors knew exactly what they were going to do. This was able to minimize the number of cuts needed and also eliminate any follow up surgeries.


While this is a huge advancement for the medical field, it is only just the type of the iceberg. Many researchers today are working on the 3D printing of real livingorgans. A San Diego based company Organovo has even gone as far as to announce they will be unveiling a 3D printed, functional liver sometime this year. Unfortunately, the application of that type of technology is still many years away. When it is here however, our world will be turned upside down as the need for transplants from organ donors will be theoretically eliminated.

Posted by Kevin Barisano (4)  

10 comments:

  1. This is an amazing advancement. I can't believe this is something that will happen in our lifetimes. At the same time it still feels like this is a bit of a novelty. The ability to print out a facsimile of the organ doesn't necessarily change the outcome of the surgery. Especially in this case the printed out heart was less of a tool and more of an example of the possibility of the technology. I look forward to when the organs themselves are implantable in place of the real thing.

    Posted by Kirk MacKinnon

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  2. This is really neat stuff! Hate to say I saw the idea of this first on Grey's Anatomy, but nevertheless it still is a really incredible advancement. I am just wondering if you knew more of how the printer functioned. i.e., is an image of a heart scanned into it, a real picture, or some sort of code plugged so that it knows what to do?

    Posted by Taylor Schille

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    1. I don't actually know too much about how the printer works but I would assume the engineers plug in data from the CT scans and it does not just scan the 2D image.

      Posted by Kevin Barisano

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  3. I had no idea 3D printing existed. It is crazy to see how far technology has really come. Kirk is right, to see this happening in our life time is amazing. Do you think that this technique will be more beneficial? Also image scanning is very expensive, do you foresee the price of a 3D image being higher than an MRI or CT scan?

    Posted by: Lindsey Janof

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    1. It's important to note that it's not just a 3D image that is printed, it is an actual model that can be held. In this case the replica heart cost $600.

      Posted by Kevin Barisano

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  4. 3D printing has become a huge advancement in the past years and its unbelievable what can be done and what has yet to be done with this amazing technology. Very interesting to hear about and I cant wait for more amazing things to happen with this technology.

    Alex Sroczynski

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  5. This is such an awesome break through and very interesting. Not only could this aid surgeons in their preparation for a surgery, thus reducing the time a patient needs to be under anesthesia and allowing it all to go much smoother but this could be a great tool for teaching! New doctors, or even medical students would be able to get a much better understanding of the human body and its organs.
    -Kristen Whitehead

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    1. I definitely agree with that. Replica organs could be a great way to give students unique case studies to study from as well.

      Posted by Kevin Barisano

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  6. I agree with the comments above me, this is definitely an awesome breakthrough in technology and I'm excited to see how its going to grow. I wonder if 3-D printing will be used in more than just the medical profession, for example engineering or dentistry.

    -Samuel Ustayev

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    1. It is indeed used in other fields besides biology. One that comes up in conversation frequently is the 3D printing of firearms. Here is a link for a few other uses

      http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/jan/29/3d-printing-limbs-cars-selfies

      Posted by Kevin Barisano

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