CARDIOLOGY
A Model Lab continued
“ A lot of studies point to the effect
true 3D has on the brain. Holding a
3D model activates a portion of the
visual processing center of the brain,
responsible for problem solving, that
doesn’t get activated any other way.”
NICK JACOBSON, INWORKS
“It turned out not to be as difficult as I thought,” she says.
But she did recruit some help. She started by connecting with a
computer engineer from the system’s manufacturer, who helped
her write the software and override the codes necessary to make
it work. She and Dr. Morgan validated the images against CT scans
until they were sure their accuracy was just as good.
Then she went looking for a 3D printer.
BUILDING 3D IN 3D
Back when Nick Jacobson was an architecture student, he gave
a talk on some research he was doing in structural analysis. A
surgeon happened to be in the audience. Afterward, the surgeon
took Jacobson aside. If they fed CT data into the models they were
using, the surgeon said, they might be able to do some fascinating
things with it.
“So we gave it a try,” says Jacobson.
As it turned out, the architectural and engineering tools Jacobson
was using had never been applied to medicine. They showed a lot
of promise.
Today, funded by Anschutz Medical Campus innovation initiatives,
his lab, Inworks, offers engineering and design support for clinicianresearchers
at the University of Colorado School of Medicine and at
Children’s Colorado.
“We got a printer and they sent someone out to give me a one-hour
tutorial,” says Dr. Zablah. “And then I started printing.”
It worked great. The models she produced were accurate and trueto-size,
great for visualizing patient-specific physiology. Surgeons
loved them.
She wondered if they could print models from more pliable
material her own team could use to practice placing stents. For
that they used what Jacobson calls the “robust, room size printers”
at Inworks. Those also came in handy when Dr. Zablah figured out
how to segment not only the vessels, but the airways.
“In these babies with abnormal heart physiology, a stent can make
the vessel too big and crush the airway, and then you’re in big
trouble,” says Dr. Morgan. “We used to use bronchoscopes or inject
contrast down the airway to figure out that anatomy. Jenny worked
out a way just to pick the airway out of these pictures basically by
segmenting where there’s no contrast.
“She’s the first person to work that out,” he adds.
Aside from the time and risk it eliminates, the ability to model
vessels and airways simultaneously improves accuracy, since both
10 | CHILDREN’S HOSPITAL COLORADO