A heart surgeon to himself

Engineer repaired his own heart using 3D printing

3Dtoday based on Mosaic: The engineer who fixed his own heart

As it turns out, sometimes self-medication is not just possible, but also necessary. Take, for example, Tal Goulsworthy, a British engineer who gave up on the advice of doctors and repaired his own heart.

Talu was diagnosed with Marfan syndrome, a cardiovascular disease that leads to a gradual expansion of the aorta. The disease often continues until the vessel bursts, or the patient dies of heart failure. As a rule, in severe cases, there is only one way out – surgical correction to prevent a delaminating aneurysm. Our hero was asked to cut out the affected area of the heart and vessel and replace it with an endoprosthesis made of PET plastic. Moreover, after the operation, the hero of our story would have to take anticoagulants for the rest of his life so that a blood clot would not form in the artificial area.

Tal, on the other hand, asked himself a question worthy of a real technician: why cut if you can repair it? If the vessel is expanding, then why not put a tightening sleeve on it? Having puzzled the doctors with his idea, the newly minted cardioengineer took up the design of an innovative implant. First of all, he decided to get a 3D model of the heart using computed tomography and 3D modeling. The edited model was printed on a 3D printer. Now Tal had an exact prototype of the sleeve fitting organ on his hands. The sleeve itself was sewn from a mesh made of a biocompatible polymer.

The surprised surgeons agreed to carry out the operation, which ended in complete success – for the twelfth year Tal has not known any trouble. And without any anticoagulants! Moreover, our hero also founded his own company, deciding to promote the invention into mass medicine. The company is mainly charitable in nature, and therefore depends on the support of sponsors. However, there is enough money, and the company continues to grow and produce devices that have received the official name "ExoVasc". The surgical procedure, tested on a cheerful engineer, has since become widespread and has its own designation – PEARS, or "Personalized external aortic support".

Portal "Eternal youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru 11.11.2016