Materialise and Fuwai Hospital Build 3-D Printing Center

Materialise (Leuven, Belgium) and Fuwai Hospital (Beijing; China) have partnered to open a multidisciplinary three dimensional (3-D) printing center for cardiovascular specialists in China.

The collaboration between Materialise, a major provider of additive manufacturing (AM) software solutions and sophisticated 3-D printing services in a wide variety of industries, and China's largest cardiovascular hospital is intended to bring the possibilities offered by 3-D printed clinical planning tools to medical specialists in China, with a focus on working with Chinese regulators to enable the building of 3-D printed heart models for use in clinical planning. One example is using a 3-D model to create a tailor-made Gore-Tex patch to treat patent foramen ovale (PFO).


The use of 3D-printed “practice organs” made to measure from MRI and CT scans of patients is becoming an important planning tool, helping surgeons establish a rough estimation of navigation planning, pre-plan artificial valves for replacement and check their size before implantation, and reduce operation times by up to 50%. The technology also has other potential medical rehearsal uses, such as in planning kidney stone removal on a model of the kidney or planning an embolization procedure on 3-D model of the artery in question.

“Materialise highly anticipates working closely together with Fuwai Hospital and Chinese regulatory authorities, to enable doctors and patients to benefit from 3-D Printed heart models,” said Peter Leys, chairman of the board of Materialise. “Around the world, these heart models have already proven invaluable for the preparation of complex interventions, thereby improving outcomes and in many cases, saving lives. This is especially true for young babies born with heart defects due to the complexity that comes with treating patients so young and delicate.”

“We appreciate the opportunity to work with a company that has 25 years of experience in medical 3-D Printing as they help us navigate opportunities and achieve medical 3-D Printing goals in a safe, economical and sustainable way,” said Hu Shengshou, MD, President of Fuwai Hospital. “With this collaboration, Fuwai Hospital will become China's leading center for 3-D printed heart model education, spreading knowledge of the technology and how it can be used by surgeons to the benefit of the Chinese public.”

Fuwai Hospital, founded in 1956, is the largest Grade III Class A hospital in China, devoted exclusively to cardiovascular diseases. It is also hosts the Chinese National Center for Cardiovascular Diseases (NCCD), specializing in patient care, education, research, and prevention in cardiovascular diseases. Fuwai employs 2,551 medical and supporting staff members in eight research labs, 37 wards, 19 operation rooms, 2 hybrid operation rooms, 11 Cath Labs, and 11 ICUs, for a total of 967 beds. The hospital has state-of-the-art equipment for medical examination of cardiovascular diseases, including a cardiac MRI scanner and 64-slice cardiac CT scanner.

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