Latest thing in heart disease treatment: 3-D printing

A hospital in Guangzhou opened China's first 3-D printing laboratory for cardiovascular medicine on Wednesday, with the facility expected to provide help in diagnosis, surgery preparation and realtime surgical guidance.

The lab at Guangdong General Hospital, a joint project with a company in Zhuhai, Guangdong province, was established to promote the clinical applications to further development the technology.

About 6.7 million structural heart disease patients in China need surgery, with the disease featuring a wide range of individual differences, complex treatment plans and difficult surgeries, according to Zhuang Jian, the hospital's president and an expert in cardiovascular medicine.