3D-Printed Human Organs Prep Doctors for Real Surgeries

An Iowa businessman says 3D-printed human organs can help doctors practice surgeries before actually opening up a real body.

Mark Ginsberg — an Iowa City jewelry store owner, who also has a manufacturing facility with a couple of 3D-printers — has partnered with physicians to help 3D print organ models or whatever they might need, the Iowa City Press-Citizen reported.

A surgeon can provide a CT scan of a patient`s organ and that can be translated into information for 3D printing. Recently, Ginsberg 3D-printed a photopolymer heart model for a University of Iowa surgeon, who had a young patient with a hole in the heart, the Press-Citizen reported.

“This way, they can hold the actual heart in their hand, the physiology of that heart, the rendering of that heart, and pregame the direction of the tools, the angle of the tools and how they`re going to attack different vessels,” Ginsberg told the newspaper.

In the above video, Ginsberg told the Press-Citizen that the advantages of this type of preparation is less anesthesia for the actual surgery, since doctors can anticipate what they`re going to do and keep the body open for less time; a potentially better prognosis; and reduced liabilities.

“Probably most importantly to an insurance company is a reduction in a potential liability: things going wrong that you hadn`t anticipated because you hadn`t seen the actual organ, or the actual part that you were going to operate on,” Ginsberg said in the video. What do you think about 3D printed organs used for surgical practice? Have you heard of other innovative medical uses for 3D printing? Let us know in the comments.