“One of the biggest challenges of working with kids is that you are also working with their families,” says Jenny Zablah, MD, interventional cardiologist at Children’s Hospital Colorado and assistant professor of Pediatrics-Cardiology at CU Anschutz. “You have to think about not just how to treat the patient, but how that treatment will impact the family.”
One of the innovative ways Zablah and her colleagues use fusion imaging and 3D printing technology is to create resin-based, to-scale replicas of her patients’ hearts. These models not only better inform treatments of various conditions from heart disease to anatomic anomalies, the 3D models help a young patient, their parents and family understand the condition of the child’s heart, and how it has improved following treatment.
In the video below – produced as part of the “This Is Breakthrough” advertising campaign promoting the remarkable talent and innovations taking place on the Anschutz Medical Campus – watch Zablah as she presents a model heart to a patient and his father, and learn more about how her innovative approach is improving outcomes for children and their families.