The Cardiology, Cardiac Surgery and Vascular Surgery Service of the Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau have set up a transverse 3D printing platform with state-of-the-art equipment aimed at research, teaching and clinical application in support of highly complex procedures in the cardiovascular field. The platform is supported by the Cardiology Service, the Centre for Biomedical Research Network – Cardiovascular (CIBERCV) and the Sant Pau Research Institute – IIB Sant Pau.
This technology has already been applied to date for the treatment of 3 patients of the Vascular Surgery Service, 5 patients of the Surgery Service and 6 patients undergoing intervention procedures in complex structural heart diseases with excelenses results. The last case is a patient admitted in critical condition for a serious complication of an acute myocardial infarction with cardiac rupture. The impression of the heart provided a unique and very detailed information of the problem, which allowed the cardiac surgeons to individualize the type of surgery and satisfactorily repair the damaged heart achieving a favorable evolution of the patient.
Biomedical image analysis and 3D printing are revolutionizing the way complex medical procedures are understood and planned. The availability of three-dimensional anatomical information, prior to surgical procedures, allows a more precise and tangible knowledge of the pathology and customization of the surgery according to the anatomical characteristics of each patient. In this way, the surgeon can better explain to the patient the surgical procedure to be performed while making his task significantly easier, and can plan the approach and foresee possible difficulties that may be encountered. This technological advance is aimed at improving the results of the surgery and avoiding complications.
