3D Printing Helps British Doctors to Transplant Adult Kidney into a Baby

In a breakthrough surgery, doctors in the UK have successfully transplanted an adult kidney into a baby with the assistance of the flourishing technique, 3D printing.Lucy Boucher was suffering from supraventricular tachycardia, irregular rapid heartbeat, which resulted in reduced oxygen supply to her body including the kidneys. After the heart surgery, she was on dialysis due to kidney failure.

Now surgeons have performed a transplant where the kidney was retrieved from the baby’s father. Surgeons at Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust have used the 3d printing technique to visualize and plan the operation before itself.

Mr Boucher said: "Seeing the model of her abdomen and the way the kidney was going to be transplanted inside her gave me a clear understanding of exactly what was going to happen. It helped ease my concerns and it was hugely reassuring to know that the surgeons could carry out such detailed planning ahead of the operation."

They created models of the kidney using 3D printer and prepared themselves on the procedure to insert the adult kidney into the baby. The operation was performed in November and both are recovering well.

Lucy's mother Ciara, said, "Considering all the potential complications, it's fantastic that everything has gone so well - it's a massive relief. The transplant is life-changing for Lucy."

Pankaj Chandak, a specialist registrar in transplant surgery at Guy's and St Thomas', whose idea was to use 3D printouts, said, "Our exciting new use of 3D printed models to help plan highly complex kidney transplant surgery in children brings all sorts of important advantages for our patients and the surgical team. The most important benefit is to patient safety. 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."

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Source-Medindia