Google cardboard saves a baby’s life by helping doctors map out heart surgery

The latest headlines from our reporters across the US sent straight to your inbox each weekday Your briefing on the latest headlines from across the US Your briefing on the latest headlines from across the US SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy Google cardboard has saved a baby’s life when doctors in Miami used the simple device combined with 3D imaging to map out intricate heart surgery. After researching their options, the parents found an article called “The 20 Most Innovative Pediatric Surgeons Alive Today” and number three was Dr. Richard Burke, the chief of cardiovascular surgery at Nicklaus Children’s Hospital in Miami. Instead, Dr. Juan Carlos Muniz, a pediatric cardiologist who specializes in imaging, used an app called Sketchfab to download images of Teegan’s heart onto his iPhone and showed them to Dr Burke through the Google cardboard device. The 3D imaging also helped doctors to access the baby’s heart, which was unusually placed in the far left of her chest, and also to “re-routing“ her right heart ventricle so that it could do the job of both the left and the right ventricle over the longer term.