Doctors remove tumor, save kidney thanks to 3-D printed model

Physicians at Intermountain Medical Center in Salt Lake City used 3-D printing technology to build a model of a patient’s kidney to save her life during a complicated tumor-removal procedure.

Linda Green had a tumor in her kidney that was near an artery, veins and the ureter. Using a 3-D printed model of her kidney, doctors studied the exact placement of the kidney and decided the best route to remove it, while keeping the vital arteries and veins intact.

"We're giving doctors additional visual tools to see the anatomy in a different way," said Transformation Lab specialist Cory Smith. "In the transformation lab we talk about reimagining imaging—it's the evolution of imaging."

Intermountain Medical Center Urological Institutes director Jay Bishoff, MD, and radiologist Talmage Shill, MD, started by preparing CT scans of Green’s kidney before rendering and printing the kidney model in two halves at the Intermountain Transformation Lab,. This allowed Bishoff to examine exactly how the tumor attached to the kidney.

"Without the 3-D model, the visual images of the CT scans would not have allowed us to identify this nub prior to the surgery," said Bishoff. "The 3D printing technology allowed us to prepare a more complete plan for the patient's surgery, show the patient the complexities of the procedure and what would be done during surgery to remove the tumor and save the kidney."

Bishoff was then able to take the model into the operating room for reference and successfully removed the tumor, saving Green’s kidney.

"I'm just so thankful for everybody at the hospital who was involved and cared," Green said. "It was like a night-and-day difference, and I completely trust him too. Dr. Bishoff kept me informed and called me personally, which I very much appreciated."