The Underwood Trust and our pioneering Cardiac 3D Printing Service

With thanks to the incredibly generous support from The Underwood Trust, we have funded a pioneering 3D printing service which will revolutionise clinical care to young cardiac patients who can travel hundreds of miles for the specialist care provided at Bristol Children’s Hospital.

This new service at the hospital is an incredibly exciting project that both innovates and brings huge gains to the clinical care that the cardiac team can deliver.

Using specialist equipment to construct 3D models of individual hearts, this cutting-edge technology allows for the team to plan and prepare for complex operations, teach trainee surgeons and cardiologists how to do procedures, and allows parents and their child to understand what the problem is with their heart.

Robin Clark, Trustee of The Underwood Trust visited Bristol Children’s Hospital and was able to see first-hand the 3D printer and hear about the new service from Professor Massimo Caputo, Consultant in Cardiothoracic Surgery and Giovanni Biglino, a biomedical engineer.

We are delighted to be supporting The Grand Appeal’s 3D Bio-Printing Service. This advanced medical technology will make a huge difference to the many patients and families who come each year to the Bristol Children’s Hospital for complicated heart operations.

Robin Clark, Trustee of The Underwood Trust

In the future the service will also have the capacity to ‘bio-print’ using stem cells, dramatically decreasing the number of operations a young patient needs and will be one of the first services of its kind in the UK.

The generosity from The Underwood Trust will make such a huge difference to the young patients and families from all over the South West and beyond.