UAE surgeons use 3D tech to save young heart patients

Heart surgeons are heavily depending upon ground-breaking 3D medical imaging technology to help save children suffering from heart disease.
The unique technology adopted by surgeons in Capital helps them rehearse complex operations, aid pre-diagnosis and ultimately, save surgical time and lives.
Surgeons from Shaikh Khalifa Medical City (SKMC) Pediatric Cardiac Programme have been working with a Belgian-based technology provider, in order to deliver treatments to the people of Abu Dhabi.
Dr Laszlo Kiraly, Consultant and Division Head, Paediatric Cardiac Surgery at SKMC, told Khaleej Times that the UAE's strategy of merging world-class medical care has clearly been successful.
"In the UAE we have a high prevalence of congenital heart disease, slightly higher than North America and Europe. The complexity of these patients is very high," he noted.
Complexity in congenital heart disease often relates to the structural disturbance of the heart, such as a hole, or abnormal connections leading to and outside the heart.
"It's a very colourful spectrum and difficult to correct. On average we have a much higher complexity in the UAE than our colleagues in Europe."
Dr Kiraly, who was previously the head of the National Congenital Heart Centre in Hungary, said: "We need to know the extent of the problem so the pre-diagnoses is crucial. But sometimes the anatomy is so complex that the 2D can't help to the full extent." He pointed out that the 3D printing allows doctors to see the exact dimensions of the heart and its problems. Dr Kiraly added: "Preoperative planning will never be the same. We now completely rehearse what we want to do.
"This 3D engineering has made our team not only more confidant, but more effective."
Dr Alawi Alsheikh-Ali, Consultant Cardiologist and Cardiac Electro-Physiologist at SKMC, shared a case of how the 3D printer recently saved the life of a baby girl in the Capital.
The young patient was born with hypoplastic left heart syndrome (HLHS), where the left ventricle of the heart is deeply underdeveloped and is thus unable to pump blood to the rest of the body.
Without quick surgical intervention, HLHS is fatal. At merely five months old, she underwent her surgery, where doctors relied on the 3D technology in preparation.
Dr Alsheikh-Ali, who is also the Chair of the Cardiac Sciences Institute at the hospital, noted that such complex congenital heart defects, often demands paramount medical imaging for the planning of paediatric open-heart surgery.
"The life-size, printed 3D true model of the heart is used to plan intricate, detailed steps of the operation, and this translates into improved patient safety and outcomes."
Since the creation of the Paediatric Cardiac Surgery Programme at SKMC in 2007 by Dr Kiraly, over 2,500 children suffering from heart disease have been treated.
jasmine@khaleejtimes.com

Dr. Alawi Alsheikh-Ali