Echocardiography and 3D printing: cardiac models for the education of dog owners

Abstract

Three-dimensional (3D) printing is a new method for creating human and veterinary anatomical models, which makes the education of students and professionals in the health area more complete, in addition to helping the patients themselves understand. In the area of ​​cardiology, this technique can efficiently help the assessment of cardiac alterations for the patient during medical consultations, tying a feeling of involvement with the medical team. Likewise, it is possible to use 3D printing to understand the echocardiographic technique, where conceptual knowledge of the anatomy of the heart and the ability to translate a two-dimensional ultrasound image into a 3D idea is required. This research aimed to develop printable 3D cardiac models, to demonstrate cardiac sections used in echocardiography and use them to teach dog owners, evaluating their suitability as a tool for a better understanding of the echocardiographic exam. The 3D cardiac models were validated by dog owners through an evaluation questionnaire prepared on a Likert scale, after monitoring the echocardiographic examination with an explanation by the echocardiographer using the printed models. A total of 30 dog owners participated in the study. In all seven questions of the questionnaire, the vast majority of positive responses were observed, with partial or total agreement by the participants. These results showed that the use of 3D printed models is effective in improving the understanding of the echocardiographic examination and is feasible in the daily workflow.