It's a defining moment in a parent's life: Seeing their unborn child's image on an ultrasound for the first time. Now pregnant women could have the chance to hold a life-size model of their unborn baby.The startling new medical technology is the result of a Royal College of Art design student's PhD.
Brazilian student Jorge Lopes has pioneered the conversion of data from ultrasound and MRI scans into life-size plaster models of living embryos using a method called rapid prototyping.
'It’s amazing to see the faces of the mothers. They can see the full scale of their baby, really understand the size of it,' said Dr Lopes.
'The technology can be also be used as an emotional tool for parents whose foetus might be deformed or need treatment,' added Hilary French, who heads the School of Architecture and Design Products.
A good way of understanding how rapid protoyping works is to imagine a printer that prints plastic powder instead of ink. Then as it prints layer up layer it slowly builds up a 3D model.
Dr Lopes' work will be displayed at an exhibition opening at the RCA in London today. The technology is currently being trialled at a clinic in Rio de Janeiro. His supervisor, King's College head of obstetrics Stuart Campbell, called the invention 'absolutely unique' and 'a fantastic development'.
Professor Campbell, who pioneered the use of ultrasound in the 1980s, also hoped the technology would help mothers - blind mothers in particular - to bond with their babies.
'I don’t know whether I am looking at science or I am looking at art', commented an external examiner reviewing the student's PhD viva.
(Daily Mail, June 26)
