Organ donors are hard to come by, given that most people don’t even think about what will happen to their body after death.
After all, we’re not planning on getting into an accident. So it’s especially hard to come by heart donors for people really in need.
University of Tel Aviv
Now, researchers at Tel Aviv University have managed to successfully make the first ever 3D-printed heart. This isn’t just some sort of plastic polymer heart either, it was printed using uses cells and biological material from a patient.
Published in Advanced Science, the report explains how the entire heart was printed, complete with blood vessels, ventricles and separate chambers.
The scientists started by taking a biopsy of fatty tissue from the patient. They then use the cellular material from the tissue as “ink” to print. In this fashion, they can print someone an entirely new heart, or even just smaller patches to fix damage from accidents or say removed tumours.
The only problem is that the heart they were able to print wasn’t large at all, just about the size of a rabbit’s heart. However, there’s still room for the technology to improve, and they could one day print full-sized hearts for patients that need a donor.
Representational image
Not only would this put less stress on donors lists across the world but, assuming the doctors take fatty tissue from the patient needing a replacement, the new heart is a guaranteed DNA and blood type match.
And the scientists involved in the heart project at Tel Aviv estimated that, within 10 years, organ printers could be available at hospitals all over the world.
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