Over the course of my career,
I've done over 1,000 open
heart surgeries in children
with congenital heart disease.
His body could only work
so long with that kind of
a heart.
Joseph's parents had a decision to make.
He might be able to have this
really risky surgery, but
yet a life-changing surgery for him.
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Laurie and Ryan love kids.
It's a party here every day.
We have seven kids:
Three biological, four adopted.
Three have congenital heart disease.
Laurie remembers when
she first saw Joseph.
I fell in love with his face.
We knew right away he had a
severe congenital heart disease.
He had already had two surgeries in China.
At some point his heart would
peter out and he would need
a new heart.
So they found out he was a
candidate for a pretty risky
type of heart surgery.
Something called a biventrical repair.
If the surgery was successful,
he wouldn't need a future
heart transplant.
He could keep his repaired heart forever.
Failing to prepare is preparing to fail.
In our field, it's even more critical.
So this is Dr. Anagnostopoulos.
Dr. A for short.
Every patient is different.
The margin for error is small
due to the patient's size.
Dr. A said Joseph's heart was
one of the most complicated
he'd ever seen.
He had five different
things that were abnormal.
One.
There were a couple of big
holes inside his heart.
Two.
There was a valve that
was abnormally formed.
Three.
The great arteries leaving
the heart were flipped.
Four.
The veins were coming to the wrong side
in the upper chambers of the heart.
And five.
His heart, rather than looking
to the left side, it was
looking to the right side.
Enter the 3D printer.
It has been thought as
the ultimate visualization
technique.
This is Alejandro.
He's a researcher at the
University of Wisconsin Madison.
Visualization is a key factor
for surgeons before they
do surgery, because they are
gonna face something that
they have only seen in two
dimensions when they see
an image.
Here, we're looking at Joseph's heart.
We start by acquiring high
resolution images of the heart.
We then generate a
model using 3D printing.
So having a model like this
that you can print cheaply
allows surgeons to do all kinds of things.
You see here we cut out
the front part of the heart
in order to be able to see inside.
They can actually look inside.
They can print the exact
size or blow it up.
They can hold it in their hands.
And Dr. A did all of this
before Joseph's surgery.
Believe me, it's spend a lot
of hours looking at the model
and preparing for that surgery.
You kind of feel like an
athlete or musician who's about
to perform.
You get into the zone.
So that's how I approach it.
You get locked in, you get in
the zone, and you try to get
the job done.
They had kind of three
stages that Dr. A had to do
throughout the surgery and
we knew this going into the
surgery, if each step went
well, he would complete the
final repair.
You know, we kinda
celebrated as each step went.
We knew we were one
closer to the full repair.
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The surgery lasted over 10 hours.
Joseph's surgery was a success.
They did the 3D heart to
prepare for it and that was just
incredible.
And he's a healthy little boy now.
It's pretty incredible that
he went from a kid who needed
the possibility of a new heart
one day, to a kid who will
have this heart forever.
For a complicated surgery like
Joseph's, having this model
made a big difference.
The team is trying to take
this technology further.
They're starting to 3D print
the hearts of unborn babies
to be ready for surgery
right when they're born.
And they're connecting tubes
to these 3D printed hearts
to better understand how
different surgery tactics
will affect blood flow.
Ultimately, it comes down to
creating a more customized
approach to medicine.
The big advantage in my mind
right now is that you can
personalize the models and
be able to prepare the teams.
And in the future, Dr. A thinks
that 3D models could have
a huge impact on the
way that surgeons train.
As we change the materials
that we use, we're going to be
able to take the hearts of
unusual patients, print them,
and potentially do the operation
four or five times before
we even get into the operating room.
And as for Joseph...
He's a healthy little boy now.
He's just as active as
any other little kid.
You wouldn't know it at all
that he has a heart condition.
He can, essentially, live a normal life.
We're just happy to be part
of finding a solution that is
gonna help kids now and in the future.
We can't wait to see what happens next.
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