Nov 3, 2016 | By Alec
While it often appears revolutionary to everyone without a medical background, the climactic medical solutions in hospital dramas often rely on recently established medical procedures. In other words, House’s controversial treatment procedures are often derived from actual medical breakthroughs that are already in use in hospitals. While that can take the fun out of some drama series (doctors usually don’t feel the suspense we do), it does speak volumes about CBS’s new medical drama Pure Genius. Revolving around high tech medical gadgets, the series pilot episode reflects the growing presence of 3D printing in hospitals by relying on a 3D printed heart model to solve a particularly tense situation.
Of course, regular readers will know that 3D printed models can increasingly be found in hospitals all over the world, especially made to prepare for very unusual and highly complex surgeries. Among the most extreme cases we’ve seen so far is this 3D printed heart model that helped save the life of a five-day-old Russian baby born with a congenital heart defect. Just two years ago, these type of projects were one-off and rare, but many hospitals are now increasingly systemizing the production of these 3D printed surgical models. Through a partnership with Arizona State University, the Phoenix Children's Hospital actually normalized these 3D printed heart model production through their Cardiac 3D Print Lab. That same procedure now featured in Pure Genius.
While we apologize for spoiling the plot of the episode that aired a few days ago, the appearance of 3D printed surgical models in a mainstream show does say so much about how far the technology has come. The series itself, which launched last Thursday, actually focuses on a wide range of these gadget-driven medical solutions. The genius in question is James Bell (Augustus Prew), a young billionaire entrepreneur who dispenses revolutionary high-tech treatment free of charge to patients with rare complications, such as congenital heart defects.
Though special in a medical drama, that kind of 3D printing solution is actively used in the Phoenix Children’s Hospital all the time. In fact, about two of these 3D printed heart models are made every week, according to university and hospital statistics. Generally speaking, they provide the surgeons with the data necessary to plan surgeries long before they cut into any patients.
The Cardiac 3D Print Lab has actually been under development for a long time, and its origins can be traced to 2010 when ASU engineering professor David Frakes started recruiting art majors for his Image Processing Applications Lab – on a hunch that they could see new technical possibilities. Justin Ryan was one of them, and was accepted into the biomedical engineering graduate program. He now runs the Cardiac 3D Print Lab, heavily relying on his background in computer animation.
While 3D printing was already seen as having medical potential at the time, it was far too slow to be of any use. It could take weeks to 3D print an accurate heart model, and by that time the patient could already be dead. Through the efforts of Ryan and his team, they actually realized same-day turnaround back in 2012, with the help of a Phoenix Children’s Hospital Leadership Circle grant that enabled them to buy a 3D printer. “Having the printer at the hospital meant we were right next door,” Ryan said. “The surgeon could look at the images and make multiple adjustments, and then we could print it once.”
Right now, heart models for patients in the Phoenix Children’s Hospital can be 3D printed in nine hours or less, and more than 300 have already been manufactured. This makes the Cardiac 3D Print Lab the most prolific surgical model 3D printer in the US, and they also manufacture for other local hospitals. Even adult patients are thus benefiting from this 3D printing procedure. In addition to hearts, they are also 3D printing tumors and more. “Not only does the print inform the surgeon prior to surgery, it helps a child conceptualize what the tumor actually looks like,” Ryan said. “After surgery, we give the patient a 3D print of the tumor and let him or her smash it.”
While Pure Genius is thus lagging behind in some respects, the next step in medical 3D printing isn’t quite ready yet. Ryan and his team are also looking into skin cell trials and hope to experiment with liver cells, but they estimate that it can take decades before 3D printed organs are a reality. But parts of them, like 3D printed heart valves, can be realized within a year or five, they say – as can 3D printed stents, clips and other implants. 3D printed bone for cancer patients is also on the agenda. In other words, a 3D printing medical drama is still a few years away.
Posted in 3D Printing Technology
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