2015-2017 John Hopkins 3-D Printer Grant Award

Partnering with the Fetal Health Foundation the Brianna Marie Memorial Grant was awarded to Johns Hopkins Center for Fetal Therapy for the purchase of a 3-D Printer for use in fetal surgery preparations. We are pleased to share that the study has been accepted for publication and titled: Ultrasound based three-dimensional medical model printing for multispecialty team surgical rehearsal prior to fetoscopic myelomeningocele repair.doi: 10.1002/uog.18891 “Case specific surgical rehearsal has proven beneficial in certain complex surgeries because itallows deliberate and repetitive individual and team practice of challenging surgical steps, preidentificationof potential obstacles and errors, and decreased operative time.2,3,4 Similarly, this exercise allowed our operative team to finalize the surgical approach, anticipate intraoperative challenges, optimize surgical instrumentation, determine the roles of the team members in the shared operative steps to maximize intraoperative efficiency, smooth interaction and collaborative support without the time pressure inherent during the actual procedure. This case specific rehearsal resulted in execution of the fetoscopic repair as planned, achieving complete watertight closure without complication. Our report illustrates the value of this technique to prepare for complex multi-specialty fetal surgery.”