Children’s Hospital Additive Manufacturing for Pediatrics (CHAMP) 3D Lab

The Children’s Hospital Additive Manufacturing for Pediatrics (CHAMP) 3D Lab is helping put Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) on the cutting edge of 3D technology. Our programs are designed to give children and their families the best care and experience possible. Three-dimensional (3D) imaging and printing have seen rapid growth over the past few years with significant successes in the medical field. Applications such as surgical planning, virtual simulation, and custom biomedical devices are already improving outcomes and changing children's lives.

3D in action

Our 3D Lab and the CHAMP program aim to promote the discovery and use of 3D technology across the hospital by offering a broad range of expertise and services. The 3D Lab focuses on the digital side of these technologies by offering a variety of medical imaging processing for several departments. CHAMP works on the physical side, building models, devices and solutions CHOP clinicians and researchers can use to enhance care.

Radiologists, technologists and engineers work together to support project requests from across the CHOP Network. Together, we promote collaborative exploration to discover ways these technologies can make a difference in both clinical and research settings.

CHAMP 3D procedures

  • Segmenting, or separating, traditional images to create a digital 3D model
  • Printing patient-specific surgical planning models
  • Developing innovative training devices
  • Creating parent and patient educational models
  • Designing custom medical devices
  • Processing and measuring CT and MRI scans

Hear from one surgeon how 3D printed organ models are helping with surgical planning, finding solutions for cases that were once thought to be non-operable.