{"id":18492,"date":"2020-03-16T19:09:22","date_gmt":"2020-03-16T19:09:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/pegasus\/?p=18492&post_type=story"},"modified":"2021-06-22T19:11:38","modified_gmt":"2021-06-22T19:11:38","slug":"models-for-success","status":"publish","type":"story","link":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/pegasus\/models-for-success\/","title":{"rendered":"Models for Success"},"content":{"rendered":"
Spring 2020 | By Robert Stephens<\/em><\/p>\n [lead]On a Sunday evening, Jack\u00a0Stubbs\u2019 phone rings. He\u00a0thinks about letting it go to\u00a0voicemail until he notices\u00a0who is calling: a doctor from Nemours\u00a0Children\u2019s Hospital. A small child with\u00a0badly impacted teeth needs surgery\u00a0right away, but it\u2019s complicated,\u00a0possibly life-threatening. The medical\u00a0team looks to Stubbs for help.[\/lead]<\/p>\n Stubbs is not a doctor. As the\u00a0director of the Prototype Development\u00a0and 3D Print Lab (PD3D) at UCF, he\u2019s\u00a0basically a gadget guy. His demeanor\u00a0is as casual as the jeans he wears to\u00a0his office at Central Florida Research\u00a0Park. Here, Stubbs shows what first\u00a0appear to be toys. Behind him, the\u00a0constant drone of printers creates a\u00a0soothing backdrop of white noise.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is the cool stuff,\u201d Stubbs says.\u00a0What you see barely begins to convey\u00a0what he means. Over here is a head\u00a0small enough to be on an American\u00a0Girl doll \u2014 except it\u2019s more humanlike.\u00a0Hey, isn\u2019t that a heart? It\u2019s remarkably\u00a0realistic. Oh, and there\u2019s a rib cage with\u00a0slime around a kidney.<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s a patient-specific replica of a\u00a0child\u2019s midsection,\u201d says Stubbs. \u201cThe\u00a0green stuff [represents] the tumor. We\u00a0don\u2019t know the child\u2019s name or where\u00a0the family lives, but I\u2019m guessing it\u2019s a\u00a0girl, about 5 years old.\u201d<\/p>\n In other words, we\u2019re looking at the\u00a0closest depiction possible of a body\u00a0part of an actual child. We\u2019re also\u00a0looking at her cancer.<\/p>\n \u201cA tumor isn\u2019t the nice, tidy lump\u00a0you see in pictures. In real life it\u2019s\u00a0messy, and it makes the job of a\u00a0physician challenging. That\u2019s why\u00a0these models are so valuable. We\u2019re\u00a0helping doctors save lives,\u201d Stubb says.<\/p>\n [photo id=”19120″ title=”website2-ucf_29539874″ alt=”” position=”center” width=”100%”][\/photo]<\/p>\n <\/p><\/div>\n [callout background=”#efece5″ content_align=”left” affix=”false” css_class=””] [blockquote source=”Jack Stubbs” cite=”” color=”#000000″ css_class=””]\u201cA tumor isn\u2019t the nice, tidy lump\u00a0you see in pictures. In real life it\u2019s\u00a0messy, and it makes the job of a\u00a0physician challenging. That\u2019s why\u00a0these models are so valuable. We\u2019re\u00a0helping doctors save lives.\u201d[\/blockquote][\/callout]<\/p>\n Physician Craig Johnson chairs\u00a0the department of radiology\u00a0at Nemours Children\u2019s Health\u00a0System. He sees the young lives\u00a0that are at stake and talks with the families\u00a0trying to cope. He also appreciates the\u00a0importance of Stubbs\u2019 contributions.<\/p>\n \u201cThe key to advancing medicine and saving\u00a0lives is to combine the minds of doctors,\u00a0clinicians and engineers,\u201d says Johnson.\u00a0\u201cThat\u2019s why Jack\u2019s patient-specific models are\u00a0game changers. You have to remind yourself\u00a0that each model is an exact replica, down to 0.1\u00a0millimeter of what is actually inside that child.\u201d<\/p>\n The phone call Stubbs received on Sunday\u00a0helps illustrate the lifesaving process. A doctor\u00a0tells him about the patient\u2019s teeth being buried\u00a0deep among neurological tissues. Highly\u00a0developed MRIs and CT scans are helpful only\u00a0to a certain point.<\/p>\n \u201cCan you help us?\u201d the doctor asks.<\/p>\n This is what enticed Stubbs and Fluvio Lobo,\u00a0principal research and development engineer\u00a0at PD3D, to leave their lab at the University\u00a0of Minnesota and take positions at UCF.\u00a0Here, they have the opportunity to combine\u00a0technology, healthcare<\/a> and education to do\u00a0something incredible \u2014 one precious life\u00a0at a time.<\/p>\n [photo id=”19122″ title=”Website2-UCF-NEMOURS-PD3D-Lab-Guys-CMYK” alt=”” position=”center” width=”100%”][\/photo]<\/p>\n <\/p><\/div>\n A few hours after the phone call, Stubbs\u2019\u00a0team receives images of the child\u2019s skull.\u00a0Then the magic happens. PD3D director of\u00a0generative design Jim Inziello and researcher\u00a0Robert Sims \u201919<\/strong> add color-textured surfaces\u00a0and features that will allow the doctors to\u00a0better visualize the focal points of the surgery.\u00a0The information is fed into a Stratasys Polyjet\u00a0J750 printer \u2014 one of the most advanced 3D\u00a0printers of its kind, and one of the first to use\u00a0FDA-approved software to develop anatomical\u00a0models. Soon, a replica of the child\u2019s jaw will\u00a0be in Stubbs\u2019 hands. He will deliver it to the\u00a0physician, who in turn will use it with a team\u00a0of neurologists, reconstructive surgeons and\u00a0nurses. They will see the jaw and the buried\u00a0teeth and the brain, not in pictures, but in the\u00a0closest thing to real life. Then they will practice\u00a0the surgery before the surgery.<\/p>\n \u201cIt takes out the guesswork, big-time,\u201d says\u00a0Johnson. \u201cThe surgeons can see everything\u00a0the way they\u2019ll see it when they open the\u00a0actual body rather than on a two-dimensional\u00a0flat-panel TV. Sometimes they\u2019ll change their\u00a0approach, maybe change an angle to remove a\u00a0tumor and also save a kidney rather than taking\u00a0it all out.\u201d<\/p>\n It\u2019s something Johnson could barely imagine\u00a0when he and a colleague first saw a 3D printer\u00a0at Best Buy in 2014 and thought, \u201cWhat\u00a0if?\u201d The future seemed to arrive fast when\u00a0Nemours partnered with the PD3D lab three\u00a0years later. Their first case together provided\u00a0the ultimate test.<\/p>\n \u201cWe had a teenager whose family had been\u00a0told there was no way to treat a tumor that had\u00a0grown to the size of a small basketball,\u201d says\u00a0Johnson. \u201cThe tumor was around too many\u00a0of his organs, and it had blood vessels around\u00a0it. Chemo wasn\u2019t working. He had no more\u00a0options.<\/p>\n The Nemours doctors weren\u2019t sure how\u00a0helpful a model from the PD3D lab would be.<\/p>\n But they practiced on the model prior to the\u00a0surgery and strategized how to specifically and\u00a0safely remove the tumor. The boy walked out\u00a0of the hospital three days later.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s been two years, and he\u2019s had no\u00a0recurrence of the cancer,\u201d Johnson says.<\/p>\n [photo id=”19121″ title=”Website2-ucf_58034787″ alt=”” position=”center” width=”100%”][\/photo]<\/p>\n <\/p><\/div>\n While Stubbs and Lobo don\u2019t have direct\u00a0contact with patients, they do hear the good\u00a0news from the doctors. \u201cHearing that \u2026 it\u00a0means a lot,\u201d says Lobo.<\/p>\n Word has started to spread. The UCF\u00a0team has provided patient-specific models\u00a0for hospital teams as far away as Seattle and\u00a0San Francisco. Lake Nona Medical City will\u00a0present more opportunities as it grows. Stubbs\u00a0does admit frustration about moving this\u00a0technology out further and faster, even though\u00a0the 3D-printed models are being used in 113\u00a0hospitals in North America and more than 250\u00a0worldwide.<\/p>\n \u201cThat isn\u2019t enough. There are thousands of\u00a0hospitals around the world,\u201d he says, holding\u00a0a replica of a rib cage. \u201cThis only costs $1,200\u00a0to print. We have an opportunity to change\u00a0healthcare \u2014 to make it more affordable\u00a0and to save lives.\u201d<\/p>\n [callout background=”#efece5″ content_align=”left” affix=”false” css_class=””] [blockquote source=”Jack Stubbs” cite=”” color=”#000000″ css_class=””]\u201cThis only costs $1,200\u00a0to print. We have an opportunity to change\u00a0healthcare \u2014 to make it more affordable\u00a0and to save lives.\u201d[\/blockquote][\/callout]<\/p>\n Hospitals, despite copious financial reserves,\u00a0cannot realistically do what\u2019s being done at\u00a0UCF. It isn\u2019t just a $400,000 3D printer. It\u2019s\u00a0literally a village, where expertise in computer\u00a0science<\/a>, mechanical engineering<\/a>, biomedical\u00a0sciences<\/a>, psychology<\/a> and architecture<\/a> can make\u00a0these tiny heads and hearts come to life.<\/p>\n