Surgery done successfully on baby with 3D replica of heart

A two year old boy from Bahrain was cured of a complex heart problem after doctors operated on the child using a 3-D print of his heart.

A 3-D print of the child's heart was taken based on diagnostic images to help doctors plan the surgery with the model.

The child is a Bahrain resident, but there was no information on the child’s nationality.

He was taken to Frontier Lifeline Hospital in Chennai, India, after being diagnosed with complex congenital heart disease.

The doctors attending on him had taken the MRI and CT scans before they realised that a surgical plan could not be made under the present circumstances. So, they decided to take a 3D replica.

“Once we got the replica, we studied it for three days and planned the surgery. This saved time and avoided unnecessary confusion. It made the surgery easy, as we had an idea about what needed to be corrected and how to go about it,” Dr K M Cherian, Chairman, Frontier Lifeline Hospital, said.

"The child had so many complications in the heart; it was on the child’s right side, opposite to where a normal person’s heart is. This made the surgery even more difficult. The baby was also corrected for transposition of the two main blood vessels --- the pulmonary artery and aorta. Because of this, there was scarcity of oxygen in the blood pumped from the heart," Indian media reported.

Dr R Subramaniyan, head of paediatric cardiology, said:  "During the actual surgery, we can only make a tiny cut to see the heart. Time is limited and we cannot see the back of the heart, which is lying against the spine. CT scans and MRIs help, but even then it is difficult to gauge distances or how to repair the heart so as not to hamper a valve opening. With a 3D model, we can look at the heart from all angles. We can take it apart and we can decide on how to go about the procedure. We basically have the patient's heart in our hands before the surgery, which helps immensely," he said.

Caption : Dr K M Cherian