TEAM

Taking tech to heart

First, a replica of your heart that a doctor can hold in her hands. Next, a living sensor inside your phone that detects nearby pollutants or pathogens. That’s TEAMwork. Their motto is “What can we help you make?”

3-D printing opens up new dimension for UC Davis surgeons

BY SAMMY CAIOLA  scaiola@sacbee.com

UC Davis physician Gary Raff was treating a 19-month-old with a congenital heart defect this January when he realized he had reached a rare crossroads – he wasn’t sure what to do next. The girl had a complex constellation of arteries coming off her heart and only 1 1/4 ventricles rather than the usual two.

TEAM Prints 3-D Heart Model to Assist UC Davis Pediatric Heart Center Surgeons

When UC Davis Pediatric Heart Center surgeons faced a complex patient case in January, they consulted with cardiologists, pediatric intensive care unit physicians, radiologists, and, for the first time, biomedical engineers.

The engineers added a new technology to the clinical care toolkit: a three-dimensional printer that could be used to create a model of the patient’s complex heart anatomy.