3D Printing is a Surgery Game-changer: Baystate Medical Center Docs Explain [Video].

3D Printing Helps Dr. Rose Ganim Sleep at Night

The night before a complex surgery, Dr. Rose B. Ganim sometimes lies awake with images running through her mind. Visualizing the anatomy ahead of time helps her prepare, but there are always details that are difficult to see – even with MRI and other imaging technology.

Now, doctors at Baystate Medical Center (where Ganim is Chief of the Division of Thoracic Surgery) can use innovative technology to create three dimensional models for learning and planning. Surgeons can examine details of an organ or other part of the body in three dimensions before operating.

“This has helped me sleep at night," says Ganim. “Thoracic surgery is a very image-based specialty, but our brains are designed to best understand what is tangible rather than abstract,” she says. “For me it’s magical to have models like these that bring everything to life. It’s a game-changer.”.

Newsweek: Doctors at Baystate Medical Center in western Massachusetts are already using their own in-house 3-D printer for surgeries that are particularly tricky

MassLive: Baystate's 3D printed anatomical models help patients, physicians