Whenever I cover a story about 3D printed medical models that
Well, this story is an uplifting one about how two teenagers in India
At Kochi, India’s Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences (AIMS), Dr. Mahesh Kappanayil (Pediatric Cardiologist) and Dr. Rajesh Kannan (Radiologist) gave the teens full heart evaluations. It was then that the pediatric cardiac team decided physical models would help the surgeries immensely. Both surgeries took place in August of 2015.
As a leader in the application of 3D printing for medical purposes in India, Dr. Mahesh has this to say about how the printed models helped the surgeries happen successfully:
“Sometimes, all the traditional ways of evaluating and planning treatment still fall short. Using these precise models to actually look ‘inside’ the heart, understand the lesions and precisely plan the operations much before the actual surgery was a definite game-changer. I’m proud to be an early adopter of 3D Printing for medical applications in India.”
It was Materialise that helped make the heart models using its HeartPrint service. Two cases that had once been dismissed as being too difficult for doctors to risk now have become case studies for 3D printing’s true life saving abilities.
Vickneswaran Renganathan, Business Development Manager at Materialise, helped facilitate the communication between his company’s engineering team and the AIMS medical team. He describes this kind of work as fulfilling Materialise’s mission statement:
“For Materialise, these two cases are living proof of our mission statement: to work for a better and healthier world. I felt very proud that my role at Materialise allowed me to impact patients’ lives in such a positive way.”
And his case will also be remembered as one that shows complex surgeries that seem too risky can perhaps take place through use of 3D printed models. I never tire of writing these incredible stories, but I have to say, this one is one of the most inspiring ones yet.
Let’s hear your thoughts on yet another awesome medical application for this technology. Discuss in the 3D Printed Heart forum thread on 3DPB.com.