Samsung family donation helps improve odds for patients receiving multiple heart surgeries

Using 3D-printed replicas of patients' hearts based on CT scan results, three professors created model circulation systems that imitated their patients' actual blood pressure and flow. This allowed the doctors to run simulations before surgeries.

Profs. Lim Hong-gook, right, and Kim Gi-beom, left, smile with a patient named Kim Ji-eun, who received pulmonary valve implantation surgery at Seoul National University Hospital in Seoul. The patient holds a 3D-printed replica of her heart. [SEOUL NATIONAL UNIVERSITY HOSPITAL]

A 32-year-old patient surnamed Chang was born with a congenital heart disease called Tetralogy of Fallot and has lived with abnormal blood flow despite surgery in early childhood.

Tetralogy of Fallot refers to a medical condition in which four heart defects are observed together from birth.

Chang’s several heart defects would require multiple surgeries to correct.

A dysfunctional valve at the start of the pulmonary trunk, an artery carrying blood from the heart to the lungs, led to blood flowing in the wrong direction. The defect enlarged the right chamber of his heart and deteriorated his heart function. Even light exercise or walking up stairs made Chang out of breath, with the symptoms worsening over time.

Chang was hesitant to receive an artificial artery valve transplant. If the surgery were to go wrong, it could trigger a complication by obstructing the pulmonary trunk. Uncertainty about the surgery's potential results made Chang wait until a personalized technique became available.

The personalized option emerged after three pediatric medical professors at Seoul National University Hospital (SNUH) jointly developed a method to simulate pulsatile extracorporeal circulation treatment — using a machine to circulate and oxygenate a patient's blood outside the body — before performing the actual procedure.

Since 2023, Profs. Kim Gi-beom, Lee Whal and Lim Hong-gook have researched how to resolve difficulties in assessing surgery results due to the different shapes of patients' hearts.

Using 3D-printed replicas of patients' hearts based on CT scan results, the three professors created model circulation systems that imitated their patients' actual blood pressure and flow. This allowed the doctors to run simulations to decide the placement and size of the valve before the actual surgery.

Pulsatile extracorporeal circulation device [SEOUL NATIONAL UNIVERSITY HOSPITAL]

Recently, the three doctors developed a methodology to predict how the right chamber of patients’ hearts might improve after surgery.

In the research, Prof. Seo Jong-min, a specialist in computational fluid dynamics at Kyung Hee University, helped convert blood flow and pressure caused by heart contractions into energy. The professors have applied the technique to 20 patients so far.

Prof. Lim said predicting the surgical outcome used to be challenging, also noting that young patients have to receive multiple surgeries to replace their artificial valves, which typically last around 10 years. “Our model circulation technique and post-implantation results prediction system would be admired anywhere in the world,” he said.

SNUH's research is expected to raise surgery success rates among patients undergoing repeated medical operations.

Chang said their severe wheezing disappeared after the surgery. Chang is set to return to work just a month after the procedure.

“On the day of the transplant, the professor showed me a video clip of the simulation, and I was assured that the surgery would go well,” Chang said ,thanking the professors for enabling patients to receive safer surgeries.

A 300 billion won ($205 million) donation by the family of late Samsung Chairman Lee Kun-hee enabled the research.

“Thanks to the donation, we have come all the way and developed the personalized treatment that we had always dreamed of,” Prof. Lim said.

BY NAM SOO-HYOUN, LEE SOO-JUNG [lee.soojung1@joongang.co.kr]