Christchurch surgeons are using 3D technology to help save babies lives

A team from Christchurch Hospital has developed a 3D model of a baby's chest on which surgeons can practise complicated keyhole procedures.

Christchurch Hospital's Clinical Director of Paediatric Surgery, Professor Spencer Beasley, says the idea of the model is that they can teach the operation without using live patients.

He says they use data from CT scans to make the models as realistic as possible.