Jakari Harris
BME PhD Proposal Presentation

Date: 2024-02-14
Time: 8:00 AM
Location / Meeting Link: TEP 216E/https://gatech.zoom.us/j/92533146325

Committee Members:
Rudolph Gleason; Mahmoud Abdou; Haifeng Chen; Scott Hollister; Lakshmi Prasad Dasi; Manu Platt


Title: 3D Printing Patient-Specific Left-Heart Models for Surgical Planning

Abstract:
Medical errors in the healthcare field were estimated to 251,454 deaths per year in 2013, thus making it the third leading cause of death in the United States. Some of these occur because physicians lack sufficient tools to make a concrete diagnosis. Imaging modalities are the gold standard but lack kinesthetic feedback. 3D printing has been very beneficial in the healthcare field, especially with providing physicians with 3D models of their patient’s organs. However, these current 3D organ models are simple in design and lack the functionality needed to truly be an asset to this field. Most models are made with one material and do not contribute more than for visual aid. Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death worldwide and would benefit tremendously from a functional patient-specific heart model. We propose 3D printing a patient-specific left-heart model that exhibits similar mechanical properties of native heart tissue and reflects the same functionality of the patient’s heart. The overall objectives of this work are to (1) create a database to fit heart structure material properties to printer material properties, (2) print a geometrically accurate, patient-specific left-heart model and validate the precision, and (3) test the heart model in a circulatory flow loop and validate the hemodynamic data. The materials will be characterized and fit to nonlinear elastic constitutive models. We will segment patient CT data and generate a virtual 3D model, which will be sent to a polyjet 3D printer for material-specific model production. Overall, this work aims to 3D print a patient-specific left-heart model that closely resembles the geometry, material properties, and overall functionality of the patient’s native heart.