Vargo

Cecilia Vargo

Mrs. Debock

Third Block

Thursday October 12, 2017

3D Printing in Pediatrics

Children are the future. So, when their lives are in the hands of doctors it is important that

they receive the best care possible. In the up and coming medical world 3D printing is being used

to save lives. Doctors are planning treatments by using a 3D model of a condition which gives

them a better view of the problem. The use of 3D printers in pediatrics has led to many

successful cases, and the technology of the printers continues to grow, and become more

advanced. As 3D printers continue to advance could lead to medical advances that could change

the lives of millions of people. The use of 3D printing in pediatric medicine has made it easier

for doctors to make successful surgical plans.

First of all, the 3D printer was used for the first time in 1999. The Wake Forest Institute

for Regenerative Medicine used a 3D printer to map out a procedure for an artificial urinary

bladder. The doctors used a CT scan of the patient's condition and made a 3D model of it to

better understand the problem (Whitaker). The case was the first successful case with the help of

the 3D printer The way a 3D printer works is a doctor programs a copy of someones CT scan,

ultrasound, or MRI into the 3D printer, and then a combination of plasters and starch is bonded

together with a liquid adhesive to form a model of the scans (Yao). This complex machine is not

only used by doctors but also by medical students. In the learning environment, medical students

use 3D models of organs and conditions to better understand treatment. Since 1999, the 3D
 Vargo

printer has made an impact in the medical world by leading way to many different cases and has

been especially helpful in pediatrics.

From here on, the use of 3D printers in pediatrics has led to many successful and life

changing cases. Pediatric surgeons all over the world are starting to use 3D printers to tackle

difficult cases. With children all of their organs are so small it is sometimes hard for surgeons to

map out safe and effective treatments, but when they use a 3D printer to create lifesize models of

the problem it is easier to accomplish their goal. A pediatric surgeon at The Heart Program at the

Nicklaus Childrens Hospital in Miami, Florida was faced with case that wouldve been

impossible without a 3D printer. Dr. Robert Hanan and Dr. Redmond Burke, who are both

cardiac surgeons, received the case of four-year old Adanelie Gonzalez. Gonzalez was born with

total anomalous pulmonary venous connection (TAPVC), a complex congenital heart defect in

the veins that go from the heart to the lungs. Dr. Burke uses the 3D printed replica of Gonzalezs

heart to because holding and manipulating a flexible 3D replica of this childs heart might

allow [Him] to plan an operation that hadnt been done before ("The Heart Program at Miami

Children's Hospital Uses 3D Printing Technology"). With the use of the 3D model Dr. Robert

Hanan and Dr. Redmond Burke were able to successfully fix the problem with Adanelie

Gonzalezs heart and she is now happy and healthy and living a full life. This case is one of

many where the 3D printers were used to create an easier treatment plan and ended with

successful results. Another case where 3D printing led to a successful outcome was performed at

the Boston Childrens Hospital when pediatric surgeons used a 3D model of a childs brain to

create a treatment plan. Dr. Darren Orbach, Chief of Interventional and Neurointerventional

Radiology at Bostons Childrens Hospital, expressed that Our brains work in three dimensions,

and treatment planning with a printed model takes on an intuitive feel that it cannot otherwise
 Vargo

have (Millsaps). Dr. Orbach used the 3D model of four patients brains to map out a surgical

plan and to rehearse as much as possible. All four cases were successful and the once high-risk

patients became risk free. The use of 3D printing in these pediatric cases made it possible for not

one, but four successful cases. In a blog written by the mother of a baby born who was born with

part of his brain out of his cranium , the mother talks about how the extensive surgery on her son

would not have been possible without the use of a 3D printer. In 2014 Meredith Rutland Bauer

brought her four month old son, Bentley Yoder, to the Boston Childrens Hospital in hopes of a

solution to her sons condition. Dr. John Meara, a pediatric surgeon at Boston Childrens

Hospital, decided to 3D print a model of Bentleys condition to rehearse a safe plan for surgery

(Bauer). The surgery was a success and Bentley now has a life without an expiration date. The

use of 3D printing in pediatric medicine has helped not only these cases, but thousand of others

and is making treatment strategies for doctors easier and more efficient.

At the same time, advance are still being made to 3D printing that will further advance

the the technology used in medicine. Like every other form of technology, 3D printing continues

to advance everyday. The scientist who are working to advance 3D printing have hopes that one

day the 3D models will not only be used for surgical plans and rehearsal, but will actual

transplantable organs, a process called bioprinting. In a medical article written by Dave Fornell,

Fornell explains that [r]esearch is being conducted to enable 3-D printing of blood vessels,

where cells are deposited by the robotically driven printer in patterns that build up layer-by-layer

to create a lumen (Fornell). This advancements could lead to many different possibilities for

the medical world. For example, if it was possible to print an actual organ there would be no

need for a donor list and thousands of lives could be saved. It would also mean that doctors could

further study the functions of living organs. Dr. Robert Markwald, director of the Cardiovascular
 Vargo

Developmental Biology Center, Medical University of South Carolina, is conducting research of

organ printing by using a 3D printer. Dr. Markwald expresses that bioprinting could possibly be

the future of medicine (Fornell). This medical advancement could mean that children in critical

conditions would be given better chances for treatment and that pediatric medicine could

advance further in research and medical developments.

The use of 3D printers in pediatric medicine has made it easier for doctors to create

successful surgical plans. When the 3D printer was first used in 1999 it set forth a movement to

change the medical field forever. When a patient receives a CT scan the scan is then programed

into the 3D printer which uses plasters to create a mold of the organ. Doctors use the models to

create a safe and successful surgical plan. With successful cases like Adanelie Gonzelz and

Bentley Yoder, where doctors used a 3D printer to create models of their patients to rehearse

their surgical plans. The use of 3D printers for surgical has become popular in the medical world

and has lead to other successful cases. The advancements that are still being made to 3D printing

could possibly save thousands of lives. By creating living organs through 3D printing doctors

will be able to immediately fix failing organs without the need for transplant. Pediatric medicine

is important because all of the patients are the future of society. With the help of 3D printers

doctors have a better chance to create successful results for children. 3D printing could possibly

be the future of all medicine and specifically pediatrics.

Works Cited

Bauer, Meredith R. "Hospitals Are Using 3D Printing to Save Children's Lives."

Motherboard. N.p., 3 Oct. 2016. Web. 27 Sept. 2017.

 Vargo

Fornell, Dave. "The Future of 3-D Printing in Medicine." Imaging Technology News.

N.p., 24 May 2016. Web. 27 Sept. 2017.

"The Heart Program at Miami Children's Hospital Uses 3D Printing Technology."

Nicklaus Children's Hospital. N.p., 04 Jan. 2015. Web. 27 Sept. 2017.

Hirschlet, Ben. "3D Printing Points Way to Smarter Cancer Treatment." Scientific

American. Reuters, n.d. Web. 27 Sept. 2017.

McMillen, Matt, and Brunilda Nazario. "Prosthetics and More: Is 3D Organ Printing

Next?" Medscape Log In. N.p., 02 Mar. 2015. Web. 27 Sept. 2017.

Millsaps, Bridget Butler. "Surgeons 3D Print Models of Children's Brains for Intensive

Pediatric Surgeries." 3DPrint.com | The Voice of 3D Printing / Additive Manufacturing.

N.p., 01 Aug. 2015. Web. 18 Oct. 2017.

Whitaker, Matthew. "The History of 3D Printing in Healthcare." The Bulletin of the

Royal College of Surgeons of England. N.p., 12 June 2015. Web. 19 Oct. 2017.

Yao, Rui, Gang Xu, Shuang-Shuang Mao, Hua-Yu Yang, Xin-Ting Sang, Wei Sun, and

Yi-Lei Mao. "Three-dimensional Printing: Review of Application in Medicine and

Hepatic Surgery." Cancer Biology & Medicine. Chinese Anti-Cancer Association, Dec.

2016. Web. 27 Sept. 2017.