3D Printing in Perioperative Planning for Surgical Resection of Cardiac Tumors

A complete surgical resection is the optimal treatment for heart tumors. In some cases (such as a large tumor or a tumor formed in a precarious location), the anatomic inaccessibility and relationship with other cardiac and surrounding structures can make resection of the tumor with a clear margin suboptimal and potentially complicated. 3D printing enables the creation of material objects from digital images by depositing layers of plastic material into a 3D structure. The potential impact of this technique is significant in complex cardiac surgeries where 3D depiction of the cardiac anatomy is critical. This type of modeling could prove invaluable for pre-procedural surgical planning to determine appropriate treatment strategies.