3D printers are useful for creating random tchotchkes, but what about assisting in high-risk surgeries? U.K. surgeons did just that recently, when they performed the world's first adult-to-child kidney transplant using 3D-printed models.
Two-year-old Lucy Boucher of Northern Ireland is all smiles in the photo below, but she faced a lifetime of dialysis treatment after a heart condition resulted in kidney failure. Now, Lucy is ready to start nursery school next year and go swimming with her older brother, thanks to a successful November surgery aided by 3D printing.
"My first reaction when I saw the 3D printout of my kidney was surprise at how big it was and I wondered how it could possibly fit into Lucy," Chris Boucher said in a statement.
"We found it amazing that we could see these incredibly detailed models of Chris's kidney and Lucy's abdomen," mother Ciara added.
"The most important benefit is to patient safety," said Guy's and St Thomas' transplant registrar, Pankaj Chandak. "The 3D-printed models allow informative, hands-on planning, ahead of the surgery with replicas that are the next best thing to the actual organs themselves."
Guy's and St Thomas' and Ormond Street Hospital in London purchased the 3D printer last year with grant money awarded in recognition of the machine's range of clinical uses.
"The 3D printer is one of the many examples of how we are working … to transform healthcare and radically improve the experience of patients like Lucy," Michael Wright, head of health investment at Guy's and St Thomas' Charity, said. "Clinicians from many specialties are embracing the new technology and we expect to see more pioneering uses in the near future."
