Doctors in Russia’s Udmurtia Use 3D Technology to Save Patient’s Life
Surgeons created a 3D model of a patient’s airway to assess a life-threatening tracheal narrowing and plan surgery.
Doctors in Russia’s Udmurt Republic restored normal breathing for a patient using 3D technology. A woman was admitted to the Thoracic Surgery Center at Gorodskaya klinicheskaya bolnitsa No. 9 (City Clinical Hospital No. 9) in Izhevsk with complaints of noisy and labored breathing.
Earlier, she had been injured in an accident and had required mechanical ventilation. Some time later, the woman began experiencing new symptoms, according to Russia’s Ministry of Health.
3D Model Reveals the Threat
Examinations revealed scar-related narrowing—tracheal stenosis. Doctors needed a more precise assessment of the length and location of the constriction. Specialists at City Clinical Hospital No. 9 therefore created a 3D model of the patient’s airway. The model helped physicians determine that the condition posed a serious threat to her life and allowed them to perform surgery in time. The operation was successful.
Earlier reports noted that scientists at Tomsk Polytechnic University, together with colleagues from other universities, developed biomedical scaffolds with a shape-memory effect that activates at temperatures close to physiological levels.
