Feasibility of ultrasound-derived 3D printed ASD models
3D-TEE images of all the 40 ASD patients were successfully
post-processed, and then the corresponding 3D models of ASD were printed
by the high-precision fused deposition modelling (FDM) printer. The
total time from data set acquisition to standard tessellation language
(STL) file generation and final 3D model printing was approximately 16
hours. All the 3D printed models were translucent, smooth and soft
(Fig 2 ),36 models with one-hole secundum ASD and 4 models with
double-hole secundum ASD, visual inspection showed good agreement
between the 3D models and the TEE data sets.