University of Minnesota Foundation

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Spring 2018
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See it in 3-D

The U’s Visible Heart Lab has printed 1,000 or so heart models to educate students, researchers, surgeons, and patients

By Nicole Endres
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For more than 20 years, the University of Minnesota’s Visible Heart Laboratory has provided in-depth knowledge of heart anatomy to students and researchers around the world. 

Today it’s also a trusted 3-D printing resource. The Visible Heart Lab prints heart models so device designers can see how a prototype might fit. It prints models to aid in student learning. It also prints exact replicas of patients’ hearts to help care providers explain intricate procedures. 

And it’s all supported by private gifts. 

“Philanthropy allows us freedom to think out of the box,” says Paul Iaizzo, Ph.D., a professor in the U’s Medical School and Carlson School of Management and holder of the Medtronic Professorship in Visible Heart Research. 

Here’s a small selection of the 1,000 models Iaizzo estimates his team has printed so far.

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Parts of the heart are labeled directly on this educational print.
PHOTOGRAPHY BY PAUL NELSON
A magnified model of a bifurcation stent shows how this investigational device would be deployed to open up a blockage where one artery branches off from another.
PHOTOGRAPHY BY PAUL NELSON
In this educational model, red indicates oxygenated blood flow; blue, deoxygenated blood flow; and yellow, fat distribution.
PHOTOGRAPHY BY PAUL NELSON
Yellow on this model represents fat distribution, which is important in determining the optimal location for a pacing device because these devices require good contact with the muscle itself.
PHOTOGRAPHY BY PAUL NELSON
This pair of prints shows an infant patient’s heart defect, transposition of the great arteries, at actual size and at a fourfold magnification.
PHOTOGRAPHY BY PAUL NELSON
Look closely to find two small, silver leadless pacemakers.
PHOTOGRAPHY BY PAUL NELSON

Make a gift to the Visible Heart Lab at give.umn.edu/giveto/vhl.

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