The Heart Program at Miami Children’s Hospital (MCH) is believed to be the first in the region to use three-dimensional printing technology to create a model of a patient’s heart to support pre-surgical planning for a child born with a complex heart anomaly. Four-year old Adanelie Gonzalez was born with total anomalous pulmonary venous connection (TAPVC), a complex congenital heart defect in the veins leading from the lungs to the heart.  Although she had already undergone two complicated open-heart operations and multiple cardiac catheterizations, the procedures had only proven a temporary fix and her health was quickly deteriorating.

 
The team at MCH turned to 3D printing technology to better visualize the patient’s complex anatomy and to explore potential options for repair. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and computed tomography (CT) image files were collected and rendered by MCH’s cardiologists and a biomedical engineer who reformatted the image files to be read by a 3D printer. The files were then printed by AdvancedRP, an Atlanta-based distributor of Statasys 3D printers.
 
Dr. Nancy Dobrolet, Pediatric Cardiologist at The Heart Program at MCH says, “3D printing adds another element in caring for extremely complex conditions where surgical intervention is not typically thought possible. In Adanelie’s case, the 3D model provided us with way to create a surgical option for her survival.”
 
“I think about heart repairs in three dimensions, imagining what I will do with my hands during each step of the operation,” said Dr. Redmond Burke, Director of Cardiovascular Surgery of The Heart Program at MCH. “I thought that holding and manipulating a flexible 3D replica of this child’s heart might allow me to plan an operation that hadn’t been done before, configuring the necessary patches to create the exact shapes and dimensions to match her deformed pulmonary veins,” he said. Dr. Burke was able to intricately study the heart model, manipulating the vessels and exploring possible repairs as he would employ in the operating room. Doctors at Miami Children’s say 3D heart models will also serve as valuable learning tools for residents and medical students.
 
Just a few short days after her surgery, Adanelie was being a typical four-year-old, playing and singing along to her favorite cartoons. She was able to go home less than a week after the surgery.