来自Wyss学院for Biologically Inspired EngineeringatHarvard University，马萨诸塞州创建了一个3D打印工作流程，以预测人造的性能心脏瓣膜.
研究人员是一种“尝试之前尝试”方法，创建了一种软件，该软件模拟了与患者的本地组织的阀门反应，并提供了针对每个人的准确医学模型。此外，还创建了一个自定义的3D打印的“ sizer”，以进行阀门合身的物理演示。
Together, these features mean surgeons are better prepared to identify risk in relation to a patient’s needs and transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TVAR) operations.
Like shoe shopping…for surgeons
One of the barriers to creating highly accurate, leak-free replacement heart valves is an ability to map the thin “leaflets” of tissue within the thicker walls of a heart’s aorta. In CT scans, these leaflets are faint. However, by identifying seven key points that show up in a CT scan, the Wyss Institute’s software can accurately restructure a patient’s heart valve in its entirety.
在此步骤A之后medical model患者的心脏，配有传单和任何天然钙化的钙化，使用3D打印multimaterial system.
借助这种物理模型，外科医生可以应用可调节的3D印刷Sizer设备，以确定人造阀如何适合天然组织内部。
詹姆斯·韦弗Wyss Institute高级研究科学家将这个过程比作购物，“如果您在网上购买一双鞋子而不先尝试使用它们，那么很有可能他们不会适当地适合。”
“大小替换TAVR阀也提出了类似的问题，因为医生没有机会评估特定瓣膜大小在手术前与患者的解剖结构相适应。”
操作还是不操？
将理论付诸实践，该团队将其3D印刷工作流程的预测与30例以前接受过TAVR程序的患者的数据进行了比较。
在这些情况下,泄漏发生。By applying the sizer and modeling software, the Wyss team proved capable of predicting the rate of leakage in these cases with 60-73% accuracy. This result validated the team’s approach and gave them further areas for future improvement.
Wyss Institute Research的合着者兼合作者Beth Ripley是杨树和妇女医院at the time of the study, said, “Being able to identify intermediate- and low-risk patients whose heart valve anatomy gives them a higher probability of complications from TAVR is critical, and we’ve never had a non-invasive way to accurately determine that before.”
“Those patients might be better served by surgery, as the risks of an imperfect TAVR result might outweigh its benefits.”
采用这种独特方法的研究结果，标题为“Pre-procedural fit-testing of TAVR valves using parametric modeling and 3D printing”,一直在网上发表theJournal of Cardiovascular Computed Tomography. The paper is co-authored by Ahmed Hosny, Joshua D. Dilley, Tatiana Kelil. Moses Mathur, Mason N. Dean, James C. Weaver and Beth Ripley.
2019 3D印刷行业奖提名现在已开放。在这里进行选择。
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特色图显示了心脏瓣膜的3D打印医学模型和不同程度的钙化。通过哈佛大学Wyss研究所的照片
