SAN DIEGO — A high-tech team at Rady Children's Hospital went to college to pursue careers in fields ranging from animation to video game design, but now they’re using their skills in technology to help save lives.
“We're able to utilize incredible technology and art-making skills to improve medicine,” said Justin Ryan, a research scientist, and the team’s director.
Among their skills - 3D printing everything from skulls and hearts to bones and brains. They’re made from the patient’s CT scans and MRIs, so they show doctors the problem and allow them to take measurements before entering the operating room.
“So what's pretty cool about this is it can not only provide a physical roadmap, but our surgeons can do mock operations on it,” Ryan said. “So they can do the entire thing on the 3D print before they do it in the operating room.”
Doctors can also use the models to mold devices needed in surgery, saving them an hour or more in the operating room. “Helps our patients, improves operating times, and that usually reduces the overall surgery cost as well,” Ryan added.
Ryan's team also works with computer animation from patients’ records, creating models that can easily be rotated around on a monitor.
“They also have the opportunity to show this to the patient and their family so they also have a complete picture of what the condition looks like and what the next steps might be,” said Parham Gholami, who worked as a video game developer.
What they're doing is so technologically cool they're presenting at Comic-Con this weekend.
“We're holding a panel to showcase how we're utilizing entertainment technology, 3D printing, virtual reality, video game technology for medicine,” Ryan said.
The 3D prints take several hours and several days to make, so they can't be used for trauma. But for scheduled surgeries, these gamer creations make everyone a winner.
“It's cool to be able to create these kinds of tools and applications that can help improve people's lives,” Parham said with a smile.
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