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Jeremy Herrmann says he started to really understand the potential of IU Health's new 3D-printing technology when he was able to hand his infant patient's mother an exact model of the heart vessels he was preparing to operate on.

Why it matters: Patients can now see and understand complex surgeries before they happen, and surgeons are completing some operations faster.

• "I quickly realized the power of being able to hold this model of what we were proposing to do," said Herrmann, a pediatric cardio-thoracic surgeon, "and it truly was a significant moment."