Applications of 3D printing in cardiovascular diseases

Abstract

3D-printed models fabricated from CT, MRI, or echocardiography data provide the advantage of haptic feedback, direct manipulation, and enhanced understanding of cardiovascular anatomy and underlying pathologies. Reported applications of cardiovascular 3D printing span from diagnostic assistance and optimization of management algorithms in complex cardiovascular diseases, to planning and simulating surgical and interventional procedures. The technology has been used in practically the entire range of structural, valvular, and congenital heart diseases, and the added-value of 3D printing is established. Patient-specific implants and custom-made devices can be designed, produced, and tested, thus opening new horizons in personalized patient care and cardiovascular research. Physicians and trainees can better elucidate anatomical abnormalities with the use of 3D-printed models, and communication with patients is markedly improved. Cardiovascular 3D bioprinting and molecular 3D printing, although currently not translated into clinical practice, hold revolutionary potential. 3D printing is expected to have a broad influence in cardiovascular care, and will prove pivotal for the future generation of cardiovascular imagers and care providers. In this Review, we summarize the cardiovascular 3D printing workflow, from image acquisition to the generation of a hand-held model, and discuss the cardiovascular applications and the current status and future perspectives of cardiovascular 3D printing.

Three-dimensional printing in cardiology: Current applications and future challenges

“…Specialised, proprietary software streamlines the image postprocessing and segmentation further increasing the upfront expenses. Another way of manufacturing a 3D model is outsourcing the imaging postprocessing and 3D manufacturing tasks to an industrial company [2]. Either way, not all patients can afford this at present.…”

“…Medical 3D printing consists mainly of the following steps: image acquisition, virtual reconstruction and 3D manufacturing [2]. In most cases, virtual models are reconstructed from a series of medical images acquired through computed tomography (CT), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) or 3D echocardiography.…”

Progress in scaffold‐free bioprinting for cardiovascular medicine

“…Other approaches besides the pharmacological interventions aiming at structural repair and functional recovery are vascular grafting2 and the direct cell therapy. Therefore, it is no surprise that cardiovascular tissue engineering and, in particular, 3D printing and bioprinting are major areas of current interest and advances in cardiovascular medicine3.…”

3D printing technique for guiding complicated cardiovascular surgery

“…As mentioned by all physicians, the novel 3D reconstruction of cross-sectional imaging has been an advanced and ubiquitous technique in assisting diagnosis as well as planning and execution of medical management in many fields, such as orthopedic surgery (4), accounting for the biggest population, neurological surgery (5), plastic surgery (6), and cardiovascular surgery (7), to some degree making the therapy being of better efficiency, accuracy and precision. Compared with the digital reconstruction, the physical one, pointing to the printed model, carries a preferable vision and more excellent presence of the anatomy which can be graspable as well as obviating the mental manipulation required in analyzing digital objects on a screen after post-processing in various software and printing machines with the computed tomographic angiography (CTA) or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) data.…”