Advanced Computing in the Age of AI | Thursday, March 28, 2024

3D-Printed Airway Saves Life 

<img style="float: left;" src="http://media2.hpcwire.com/dmr/splint.jpg" alt="" width="95" height="53" border="0" />In the wake of plastic gun stories, a unique use case for 3D printing helps demonstrate that the additive manufacturing technology's potential to save lives deserves its own place in the spotlight. Now, doctors at C.S. Mott Children's Hospital in Ann Arbor have combined medical expertise with 3D printing's flexibility to save a three-month old.

In the wake of plastic gun stories, a unique use case for 3D printing helps demonstrate that the additive manufacturing technology's potential to save lives deserves its own place in the spotlight.

Now, doctors at C.S. Mott Children's Hospital in Ann Arbor have combined medical expertise with 3D printing's flexibility to save a three-month old who suddenly lost the ability to breathe on his own.

Kaiba Gionfriddo, the child in question, had a rare birth defect called tracheobronchomalacia, which causes a weakened trachea that may spontaneously collapse. It occurs in one in 2,200 infants, and (as was the case for Gionfriddo) it often goes undiagnosed until the child suddenly stops breathing.

In Gionfriddo's case, the collapse in question happened when he was only six weeks old, and out with his parents who were eating at a restaurant. His's father, Bryan Gionfriddo, performed CPR and Kaiba was put on a ventilator when he arrived at Akron Children's Hospital in Ohio. But ultimately, doctors warned that the infant's chances of leaving the hospital alive were slim.

So when Gionfriddo's parents found out that researchers in Michigan were looking into artificial airway splints, they were quick to get in touch with doctors Glenn Green, M.D. And Scott Hollister, Ph.D. To discuss their options.

Green later remarked that the timing was just right, as they had been looking into a biodegradable polymer called polycaprolactone for a while, but without emergency FDA clearance, it would have likely been a long time before the material could help any patients in need.

But Gionfriddo's life-threatening situation helped to put the biomedical solution on the fast track. Green and Hollister used high-res CT scans to construct a comprehensive image of Gionfriddo's airway, around which a custom splint could be modeled.

The operation took place on Feb. 9, 2012, and involved sewing the splint around the child's airway to act as a scaffold around which it can grow and become stronger over time. And because the polycaprolactone is biodegradable, after about three years it will be fully reabsorbed into Gionfriddo's body.

Twenty-one days later, Gionfriddo was taken off a ventilator, and now, 14 months later, has had no breathing problems since.

Full story at University of Michigan Health

EnterpriseAI