On-going research at the Centre for Cardiovascular Imaging (UCL Institute of Cardiovascular Science) and at the Cardiothoracic Unit at Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children in London is looking into the potential of using 3-dimensional patient-specific models of congenital heart diseases in clinical practice.
Such models, produced with a technique known as “rapid prototyping”, can help parents and patients to gain a better understanding of the complex anatomy of congenital heart defects (“where things are”) and what problem has been corrected or needs to be addressed.
In this way, parents and children are more and more engaged in the research activity. We believe that patients and public involvement (PPI) will then, in turn, lead to better research design.
See Dr. Alessandro Giardini, Consultant Paediatric Cardiolgist at Great Ormond Street Hospital in London to this ongoing research.
