Case Studies Heart with PAPVR Jennys case

Using patient-specific models to plan complex congenital deformity corrections (PAPVR)

Case Study
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Dr. Jenny Zablah is the Assistant Professor of Pediatrics Interventional Cardiology who uses Axial3D models within the specialized cardiac catheterization laboratory, where they treat children and adults, with congenital heart disease.

In this case, the patient in his twenties has complexities causing the pulmonary veins to not connect to the left atrium and connect instead to the vein which brings blood without oxygen to the body. Such veins usually need to be surgically repaired, however, the patient has an additional disease that could complicate the surgery, requiring Dr. Zablah to find an alternative solution. For this, she needed to see where the veins were coming into the heart so she could intervene to fix them.

Given the complexity of this case, Dr. Zablah explained, “We needed a 3D view of how the veins come into relationship with the rest of the structure of the heart, which is very rarely possible with a 2D Image.” Providing Dr. Zablah with a 3D model enabled her to physically open up the heart and get a better view of where the patient's veins were located and see that there was no destruction of important vessels. The 3D model also helped her assess the real size of the heart, which in this case was very dilated, a factor that is not normally possible to discern from a 2D images.

Dr. Zablah highlighted the benefits of using the 3D model:

“Our patient has been able to avoid open-heart surgery, which is a big deal for people that have other comorbidities like lung issues and kidney issues. This is going to be a less invasive procedure, most likely less time of recovery and the whole thing means that there will be less time needed for the procedure as we will know what devices we need to use and what other things we need to have planned for this patient. Overall this decreases the planning during the procedure and makes things more efficient and safe for the patient.”

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