One very resourceful interactive radiologist at the Swedish Medical Center in Seattle, WA was able to save a woman’s spleen thanks to the use of a 3D printed model that prepared him for and was useful during surgery as a reference point. Dr. Michael Itagaki used a procedure previously meant only for brain aneurysms on a patient with several aneurysms in her spleen. In an attempt to quell the aneurysms, yet save the spleen, he performed the never-done-before procedure on the patient’s spleen, after practicing on a 3D model of his own creation. Read more about Dr. Itagaki's impressive rise to this challenge in the full article: http://3dprint.com/72094/3d-medical-model-save-spleen/


Below is a photo of surgeons consulting the 3D printed splenic model during surgery: