Have a heart

China hospital develops 3D printing technology to treat heart disease.

BEIJING: The lab at Guangdong General Hospital, a joint project with a company in Zhuhai, Guangdong province, was established to promote the further development of 3D printing technology.

About 6.7 million structural heart disease patients in China need surgery, with the disease featuring a wide range of individual differences, complex treatment plans and difficult surgeries, according to Zhuang Jian, the hospital’s president and an expert in cardiovascular medicine.

The hospital’s affiliated Guangdong Cardiovascular Institute has made 3D printed models for 28 patients with congenital heart disease.

In treating a two-year-old child in September, the 3D printed model helped doctors identify the exact cause of the disease and helped reduce the time to find four tiny lung-related airway structures from the usual two to three hours to 30 minutes.

The printed heart models are based on imaging examination results, with the whole heart and specific areas available.

The models also aid communication with patients’ families, showing them the situation and the surgical plan.

As a short-term goal, the lab hopes to use the models to assist in diagnosis, surgical guidance and clinical treatments.

In the medium term, it hopes to be able to print tailor-made items for transplantation.

In the long run, it hopes to produce artificial hearts using cell cultures as the 3D material.

The hospital also plans to build a bank of 3D models of various heart disease cases, which can help with teaching, Zhuang said.

Zheng Zhe, assistant president of Fuwai Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, and an expert in cardiovascular diseases, said the present cardiovascular models printed with 3D technology are mostly used for teaching.