Surgeons Using 3D Printing to Help Babies

LiveScience reported that surgeons are using replicas of the human heart created by 3D printers to better plan surgery on babies.

As quoted in the market news:

The heart replicas are designed to match every tiny detail of a baby’s heart, so they can help surgeons plan where to cut tissue, reroute piping and patch holes in children with congenital heart defects, researchers said. The new findings were presented Nov. 19 at the American Heart Association meeting in Chicago.

Though just a handful of such hearts have been used so far, the replicas have already revealed hidden Swiss cheese-like holes in one child’s heart, and in another case, inspired a repair strategy that dramatically extended the baby’s projected life span.

Click here to read the full LiveScience report.