The Heart Institute at Nicklaus Children’s Hospital 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 who was 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 has already undergone two complicated open-heart operations and multiple cardiac catheterizations, the surgeries had only proven a temporary fix and her health was quickly deteriorating.
The team turned to the Cardiac 3D modeling team, consisting of Dr. Robert Hannan, Cardiac Surgeon, Dr. Juan Carlos Muniz, Director of Cardiac MRI and Chelsea Balli, Biomedical Engineer for The Heart Institute, to print a 3D model to better visualize the patient's complex anatomy and to explore potential options for repair.
“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 Institute.
“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.”
L to R: Dr. Juan Carlos Muniz, Director of Cardiac MRI; Dr. Redmond Burke, Director of Cardiovascular Surgery; Dr. Nancy Dobrolet, Pediatric Cardiologist.
Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and Computed Tomography (CT) image files were collected and rendered by the team of cardiologists and the 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. Burke was able to intricately study the heart model, manipulating the vessels and exploring possible repairs as he would employ in the operating room.
Dr. Nancy Dobrolet, Pediatric Cardiologist at The Heart Institute 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.”
L to R: Dr. Redmond Burke, Director of Cardiovascular Surgery; Dr. Nancy Dobrolet, Pediatric Cardiologist; Dr. Juan Carlos Muniz, Director of Cardiac MRI; Chelsea Balli, Biomedical Engineer.
The Heart Institute at Nicklaus Children's Hospital is a regional referral center for care of children and newborns with heart disorders and is one of the top-ranked programs in the nation. It offers assessment, intervention and ongoing care management for children and adults born with a congenital heart condition, supporting continuity of care over a lifetime.
From L to R: Patient Adanelie Gonzalez, Luis Rivera, Gabriella Alonso, Luis Rivera Jr. and Dr. Nancy Dobrolet
Press Conference on this innovative procedure
About Stratasys Ltd.
Stratasys Ltd. (Nasdaq:SSYS), headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota and Rehovot, Israel, is a leading global provider of 3D printing and additive manufacturing solutions. The company's patented FDM®, PolyJet™, and WDM™ 3D Printing technologies produce prototypes and manufactured goods directly from 3D CAD files or other 3D content. Systems include 3D printers for idea development, prototyping and direct digital manufacturing. Stratasys subsidiaries include MakerBot and Solidscape, and the company operates the digital parts manufacturing service, Stratasys Direct Manufacturing. Stratasys has more than 2,800 employees, holds over 600 granted or pending additive manufacturing patents globally, and has received more than 25 awards for its technology and leadership. Online at: www.stratasys.com or http://blog.stratasys.com.
About Advanced RP
Advanced RP provides state-of-the-art rapid prototyping [RP] and 3D Printing equipment and services. Not only do we provide the highest quality 3D printers available, we also provide a 3D printing service using our own in-house printers, allowing you to benefit from this technology before purchasing your own 3D printer. Using Rapid Prototyping allows you to discover design errors prior to investing large sums of money in the production of a flawed product. Having this capability in-house also shortens product development cycle times, provides communication tools for sales/marketing, creates jigs and fixtures for manufacturing, and retains confidentiality on all of your projects.
About Nicklaus Children's Hospital, Where Your Child Matters Most ™ (2025)
For 75 years, Nicklaus Children's has stood as a beacon of hope for children and families across the state of Florida and beyond. Nicklaus Children's Hospital is South Florida's #1 nonprofit, freestanding specialty licensed hospital exclusively for children serving close to 70 percent of children in the Miami metropolitan community. In addition, Nicklaus Children's offers care within NCH North Hospital in Naples, Jupiter Medical Center's De George Pediatric Unit and select Baptist Health Hospital pediatric emergency units. The hospital and its network of more of nearly 35 outpatient care locations offer lifesaving care in in Miami-Dade, Broward, Martin, and Palm Beach counties. These outpatient locations include an array of urgent care, pediatric primary care, and subspecialty care centers and are either hospital-based or outpatient locations under Nicklaus Children's Pediatric Specialists, LLC (NCPS). Providing a pipeline of future physicians and groundbreaking research, Nicklaus Children's is an academic and clinical affiliate of Florida International University Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine. Nicklaus Children's is home to centers of excellence including the Helen & Jacob Shaham Cancer & Blood Disorders Institute, the Nicklaus Children's Orthopedic, Sports Medicine and Spine Institute, Nicklaus Children's Neuroscience Institute and Nicklaus Children's Heart Institute. The 325-bed hospital is renowned for excellence in all aspects of pediatric medicine, with many programs routinely ranked among the nation's best by U.S. News & World Report since 2008. Nicklaus Children's also includes a nonprofit physician practice subsidiary with over 40 specialties, and an ambulatory surgery center.