Maria Andrade was experiencing symptoms of heart failure from a large hole in her heart and an abnormal vein that was connected to the wrong chamber, but her medical history meant she wasn’t a good candidate to undergo open heart surgery to patch the hole.
Osamah Aldoss, MD, pediatric cardiologist specializing in congenital heart disease at Iowa Stead Family Children’s Hospital, needed to find alternatives to surgery, so he turned to 3D printing and virtual reality.
VR allowed Dr. Aldoss to construct a virtual model of Ms. Andrade’s heart, which was then brought to life with a 3D printer. The physicians at the Iowa City-based hospital were able to conduct a trial run on the replica before performing the real, noninvasive procedure, significantly minimizing the potential risks.
The surgeons used a catheter to repair the hole in the heart, avoiding open heart surgery and the possibility of days in the hospital followed by weeks of rehabilitation. Instead, Ms. Andrade was well enough to go home the day following the procedure, according to the report.
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