Three-Dimensional Printing for In Vivo Visualization of His Bundle Pacing Leads

Transvenous pacing leads have been implicated in tricuspid valve dysfunction, and our group has adopted routine use of His bundle pacing to mitigate this effect. Three-dimensional (3D) printing technology holds great promise for advancing medicine, but the high start-up costs can be a deterrent. Seeking confirmation of optimal lead placement relative to the tricuspid annulus, we used low-cost commercial and public domain technologies to generate 3D-printed hearts from selected patients with His bundle pacing leads. Our models successfully demonstrated that such lead placements avoided interference with the tricuspid valve apparatus in these cases. Future applications of 3D printing include facilitating research to minimize lead-valve interactions, understand complex cardiac anatomy, and plan complex surgical procedures.