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3D printed model hearts and lungs to help train transplant surgeons

Diseased model hearts and lungs - which can breathe and bleed like the real organs - have been created by experts at NTU.

    Senior Research Fellow Richard Arm
    Senior Research Fellow Richard Arm

    Diseased model hearts and lungs - which can breathe and bleed like the real organs - have been created by experts at Nottingham Trent University (NTU) to help train surgeons for performing heart transplants.

    Led by senior research fellow Richard Arm, scan data from a heart failure patient and from a healthy donor heart have been used to 3D print true-to-life models to allow surgeons to practice heart transplant surgery.

    Featuring the tactile qualities of human hearts - with differing levels of tissue hardness - the models will allow surgeons to practice incisions through the pericardium and the blood vessels which connect the heart to the lungs and the rest of the body.

    The models - made from silicone gels, fabrics and fibres - will allow surgeons to learn how to carefully and safely implant a healthy donor heart of a different size and shape to the diseased one.

    The models feature bleeding vessels to simulate the experience of clamping them to stem any blood flow, before incisions are made to remove the diseased organ.

    The new heart can be sutured into place with real surgical instruments, and the process then repeated to allow for multiple mock operations as the models are repairable and re-useable.

    “The aim is to give surgeons the opportunity to learn the technical aspects of organ transplant surgery and experience the tactile aspects of removing a failing heart and connecting a different healthy one, identifying and suturing the vessels that keep the donor heart in place,” said Richard, of the Nottingham School of Art & Design.

    “This technology can simulate bleeding like a normal heart to provide the actual experience and limited visibility that surgeons must face on the operating table.

    “The model is designed to be affordable, reusable and portable, to maximise access to the technology, allowing for increased risk-free training opportunities for transplant surgeons around the country.”

    The project was funded by Freeman Heart and Lung Transplant Association and was presented at the Society for Cardiothoracic Surgery on 18 March 2024.

    Adele Lambert, chairperson at the Freeman Heart and Lung Transplant Association (FHLTA), said: “The FHLTA are proud to help fund this project as we look to the future of transplantation, we know that this innovative research will help to improve surgeons' techniques for organ transplantation.”

    • Notes for editors

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      Nottingham Trent University (NTU) received the Queen’s Anniversary Prize for Higher and Further Education in 2021 for cultural heritage science research. It is the second time that NTU has been bestowed the honour of receiving a Queen’s Anniversary Prize for its research, the first being in 2015 for leading-edge research on the safety and security of global citizens.

      The Research Excellence Framework (2021) classed 83% of NTU’s research activity as either world-leading or internationally excellent. 86% of NTU’s research impact was assessed to be either world-leading or internationally excellent.

      NTU was awarded The Times and The Sunday Times Modern University of the Year 2023 and ranked second best university in the UK in the Uni Compare Top 100 rankings (2021/2022). It was awarded Outstanding Support for Students 2020 (Times Higher Education Awards), University of the Year 2019 (Guardian University Awards, UK Social Mobility Awards), Modern University of the Year 2018 (Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide) and University of the Year 2017 (Times Higher Education Awards).

      NTU is the 5th largest UK institution by student numbers, with approximately 40,000 students and more than 4,400 staff located across five campuses. It has an international student population of 7,000 and an NTU community representing over 160 countries.

      Since 2000, NTU has invested £570 million in tools, technology, buildings and facilities.

      NTU is in the UK’s top 10 for number of applications and ranked first for accepted offers (2021 UCAS UG acceptance data). It is also among the UK’s top five recruiters of students from disadvantaged backgrounds and was the first UK university to sign the Social Mobility Pledge.

      NTU is ranked 2nd most sustainable university in the world in the 2022 UI Green Metric University World Rankings (out of more than 900 participating universities).

    Published on 21 March 2024
    • Category: Press office; School of Art & Design