How a 3D printed aorta helped surgeons replace a 'ticking time bomb' inside a man's chest

ABC NEWS (Australia)

The Queensland man's aorta, the biggest blood vessel in the body, had ballooned to about four times the usual size, leaving it in danger of rupturing — but doctors used a life-sized 3D printed model to save his life.

Transcript

00:00At a futuristic Brisbane research centre, they're printing models of body parts.

00:07Bones, brain tumours, ears and hearts all matched to a patient's own anatomy.

00:15Their largest yet is a life-sized replica of a man's dangerously enlarged aorta.

00:21It is quite a unique model, one of those things being the size and the complexity of the print process.

00:29The goal is to make operations safer by giving surgeons deeper insight before they put scalpel to skin.

00:36It gives a much better anatomical understanding than looking at a CT or MRI which are only 2D.

00:41The aorta is the main artery coming from the heart, extending down the body, supplying blood to a person's brain, organs and limbs.

00:50In this case, the Queensland man's aorta had ballooned to about four times the normal size.

00:57It was a ticking time bomb.

00:59The risk is if you leave it, it can rupture and given that it's got all your perfusion and blood supply for your body, most patients would die.

01:07A team of vascular and cardiothoracic surgeons was assembled to replace much of the man's aorta with a prosthesis.

01:15In a nine hour operation, the specialists painstakingly connected the graft to blood vessels.

01:22Micro plumbing, yeah, fancy plumbing.

01:24It's high risk surgery.

01:26During the procedure, patients have to be cooled down so they can be put under circulatory arrest.

01:33That means blood flow throughout their body is halted for around 20 minutes.

01:38They can wake up with a stroke or they might not wake up.

01:41The patient's operation last month was a success.

01:44He's done well so far.

01:46Thanks to both skilful medics and innovative technology.

01:50We'll see you next time.

02:02A long time between Snydersınız and DrAhland

02:06A the 68 was referred to as a

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