Abu Dhabi: A public hospital here performed the UAE’s first paediatric heart surgery by making a 3D model of an infant’s defective heart, it was announced on Monday.
The hospital has become the first to use models of human tissue to rehearse and fine-tune complex surgeries.
The pre-operative rehearsal at Shaikh Khalifa Medical City (SKMC) enables surgeons to get a good idea of the actual procedure in a stress-free environment, and shortens surgical times while improving success rates.
“The first paediatric cardiac surgery assisted by 3D printed models in the UAE was performed by our team this June. The patient was born with hypoplastic left heart syndrome (HLHS), where the left ventricle of the heart was very underdeveloped and unable to pump blood to the body. Without surgical intervention, the condition [could have been] fatal,” said Dr Alawi Al Shaikh Ali, consultant cardiologist and cardiac electrophysiologist at SKMC.
After an initial surgery in the first weeks of life, the patient underwent a second stage procedure when she was five months old, with surgeons using the lifesaving 3D technology to prepare for the operation. A life-size model of the malformed heart was printed, and used to plan intricate steps of the operation. The procedure was successful and the patient is now doing much better, with her heart able to pump blood to organs and body tissue.
According to the United States’ National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, eight out of every 1,000 babies in the world are born with congenital heart conditions, and these are the commonest cause of death in the first year of life. These diseases can include HLHS, holes in the heart, or incorrect connections between blood vessels or heart chambers.
The SKMC estimates that more than 500 babies are born in the UAE each year with congenital heart disease. Nearly 70 per cent of these patients require cardiac surgery, and more than half of them need the surgery within the first six months of life.
Another Abu Dhabi Government-funded health-care concern, the Shaikh Zayed Institute for Paediatric Surgical Innovation, has also been employing 3D printing. The research institute is housed at the Children’s National Medical Centre in Washington.
“Infant hearts are often the size of a walnut and they are made of very fragile tissue, which is why surgeries require extreme precision and a lot of practice beforehand,” Dr Richard Jonas, chief of cardiac surgery at the Children’s National Medical Centre (CNMC), told Gulf News.
“In addition to assisting with surgery, the 3D models help us demonstrate the operations to parents and ease some of their worries, and are also instrumental when training junior surgeons,” he added.