3D Printing of an Organic Heart and the Future of 3D in Medicine
One of the most difficult thing to get in medicine and surgery is getting a donor for an organ. A lot of people want to enjoy their organs till their old age and so many will demand that nothing happens to their organs when they are dead for reasons of religion or culture. When people want to donate organs, they demand for a very high amount which in cases people have to squeeze out just to keep their relatives or friend alive. This will change soon as technology is improving.
3D printing have been used in production and manufacturing, and has also being functional in the medical world but in the past, organs printed with 3D medically were for test and practical purposes as they did not have tissues. The organs were built using materials like Silicon which were inorganic but with the breakthrough in the Tel-Aviv University in Israel, scientist might be able to print an organic organ.
This was the first time anyone anywhere has successfully engineered and printed a heart replete with cells, blood vessels, ventricles and chambers. – Prof. Tal Dvir.
Professor Tal Dvir, a professor in the University of Tel-Aviv was able to create a heart using fat cells from a donor which were transformed into embryotic stem cells and then differentiated into different part of the heart. Although the heart is small just like that of a small mice, it had the properties of an organic organ except from the ability to pump although it can contract and this is being worked on.
Also, with this 3D printed organ, there will be a reduction or no case of rejection after transplanting has been done. In other to get this, part of the person’s cell are taken from the patient and then printed which will be part of the body and won’t look like a foreign body or antigen.
3D printing is of benefit to the medical world and it is not only the printing of biological heart but also in the creation of biological cancerous cells, so scientist can create drugs that will be used to fight and destroy the cancerous cell.
With improvement on 3D printing, it is no doubt that in 10 years from now, we will be utilizing 3D fully for medical purposes regularly.
All these advances are very beneficial for patients, thanks to them they can have a better quality of life and also avoid the risks of a transplant from another person. In this branch I can say that I love technology!
Wow! I'm really amazed at how advanced technology has become and how it has found application even in the field of medicine. Now we have 3D printed heart. One day, we may have a fully functional 3D printed human brain too
I am really amazed to hear about this 3d printing and innovating it will surely help in the medical line a lot because obviously the medical line needs it