SHERMAN — 3D printing has reached new applications and a Brooklyn surgeon recently used the three-dimensional technique repairing a congenital heart defect in a 2-week-old baby at Morgan Stanley Children’s Hospital.
The research to develop the 3D-print technique to create an actual replica of a human heart using MRI data was funded by Matthew Hearts of Hope, a Sherman based foundation. Funding for the use of 3D-print heart for the Morgan Stanley surgery was also paid for by the foundation.
“The baby’s heart had holes, which are not uncommon with CHD, but the heart chambers were also in an unusual formation, rather like a maze,” said Dr. Emile Bacha, head of cardiac surgery at Columbia Presbyterian Hospital, who performed the surgery July 21 at Morgan Stanley, the children’s hospital affiliate.
“In the past we had to stop the heart and look inside to decide what to do,” Bacha said. “With this technique, it was like we had a road map to guide us. We were able to repair the baby’s heart with one operation.”
This 3-D printed plastic heart was studied by a surgeon before performing surgery on a 2-week-old baby at Morgan Stanley Children’s Hospital