3D Printer Could Serve Up A New Heart

3D printing has certainly improved by leaps and bounds over the years, although this does not mean that one will be able to simply print whatever one likes out of the blue. Well, it seems that 3D printers might have a major role to play in the realm of medical science in the near future as the target of using 3D printers to churn out organs start to become a reality. This particular concept of what a 3D Bioprinter might resemble could be the catalyst for printing a new liver or a new organ such as a heart.

Surgeons are, at the moment, making use of 3D printers in order to prepare for surgery by taking a CAT scan or MRI of the impacted area. Upon doing so, they will then print out the organ in plastic so that this particular printed model could come in handy to figure out the actual area to cut to get to in order to help the patient out.

Known as “bioprinting”, this technology will make the attempt to print out real human organs, using fat cells of a patient. The process will make use of either traditional extrusion type 3D printer or perhaps modified inkjet printers which will hold the cells in a suspended gel before printing it out in three dimensions. Sure, this technology is still in its infancy, but you can be sure that there is a bright future and full of potential for it at the same time.

Edwin Kee
Categories: Uncategorized
Tags: 3D Printing, biometrics