Chelsea Balli, a Biomedical Engineer at Nicklaus Children's Hospital, spent considerable time coming up with an optimal 3D printing strategy to create the models the team at the hospital's heart program uses for their surgical planning efforts. According to Balli, that strategy gives the cardiac team the tools to create lifelike heart models – models with textures and colors which approximate the qualities of human tissues. These life-sized, three-dimensional models let doctors envision the smallest arteries, veins and valves of the heart. You can read the whole story here: http://3dprint.com/69770/3d-printed-hearts-models/

Below is a picture of some of the modeled and printed hearts that the doctors have fabricated: