Israeli scientists succeeded in creating the world’s first human heart with the use of the 3D-printed technique.
A team of scientists at Israel’s Tel Aviv University said that by using this technique, they could not only create heart tissue, but this also enabled them to create blood vessels.
They described what happened as “major medical breakthrough,” that advances possibilities for transplants. “The first time anyone has successfully engineered and printed an entire heart replete with cells, blood vessels, ventricles, and chambers,” Professor Tal Dvir, who led the project, said.
Dvir also added, “In the past, scientists managed to use this technique to create the external heart structure only, without cells or blood vessels.”
However, the scientists said they still have many before fully working 3D printed hearts will be available for transplant into patients.
[caption id="attachment_45924" align="aligncenter" width="601"]
3D Heart with Blood Vessels[/caption]
The scientists plan to transplant these hearts into animal’s models. Dvir hopes to do so within a year.
According to Reuters, he claims that larger human hearts could be produced using the same technology.
Dvir also noted: “Maybe, in ten years, there will be organ printers in the finest hospitals around the world, and these procedures will be conducted routinely.”
Cardiovascular Diseases
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the world most death is mainly caused by Cardiovascular Diseases. The only option available to patients with advanced Cardiovascular is heart transplants.
However, the main problem faces those advances cases is the limited number of donors, and thus could lead to more deaths among those patients, while they are waiting for a chance to have healthy hearts instead of the weak ones.
Contributed by Mohamed Helba
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