3D Bioprinting Could Make Organ Transplant Waiting List Obsolete

Thanks to modern science, medical experts can now create essential body parts thanks to the method called 3D Bioprinting. There have been many recorded breakthroughs in the field, from allowing color-blind people to hear color, to helping to fix broken bones. As a result, it may be possible for 3D Bioprinting to make the organ transplant waiting list an obsolete concept by enabling medical facilities to create organs on demand.

Every day, hundreds of patients are added on the organ transplant waiting list, where hundreds of thousands are already up for an essential internal body part ahead of others. Due to the scarcity of viable organs, conflict in pairing, and rejection, several patients die every year. This is why advancements in 3D Bioprinting is viewed as the new frontier in medical science.

3D Bioprinting works by basically taking stem cells from the particular body parts that need to be grown, where they will be sent to a lab. Once there, it’s just a matter of actually building the organs, much like how 3D printers would build car parts or furniture.

Naturally, this is easier said than done because even with the added convenience that such a technologically advanced method brings, it will still take some time to grow a stomach or a heart. Fortunately, there are already cases wherein researchers were successful in creating internal organs.

One such example is the artificial liver that was printed by a company called Organovo. Thanks to encouraging results from pre-clinical examinations, it would seem that the process is on a fast-track for FDA approval, 3D Printing Industry reports.

The prospect of being able to create essential organs at will is something that was only viewed as science fiction in the past, with examples like those created in the movie in Bicentennial Man being quite close to reality. As proven by such advancements as the SpaceX space program and the smartphone, however, reality is fast catching up to fiction.