Do you know that Bioprinting will replace organ donors?
3D printing technology has grown at an astronomical pace in recent few years. The benefits offered are found in almost every sector of life, including medical.
Recent 3D printers are capable of printing functional organs!
In this short guide, we will discuss the pros and cons of 3D Bioprinting. It will help you know and draw the insights about the future of bioprinting.
The popularity of 3D printing in medical field increased after the successful keep of a baby-sized ear on a mouse by a USA based institute, Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine.
According to the experts, a few years from now, doctors will create organs for their patients with few simple steps. As per the news published on economist.com, around 120,000 organs are transplanted from one human being to another every year. Unfortunately, the supply (donors) of the organs is significantly low as compared to the demand. So owing to this fact, most people have to die waiting for a life-saving phone call.
To avoid this, researchers are using 3D printers for Bioprinting. It will let them print organs in response to the demand and save thousands of lives.
Let’s dive in,
Pros of 3D Printing
- Drastically reduce the use of animals for testing
- Reduce volunteers in drug testing labs
- Fast and reliable printing of organs
- 3D printed tissues will be feature-rich
- Bioprinted organs will be vital and healthy
- Can increase human performance, speed, and strength
- Can print stronger bones
- Enhanced functioning of tissues
- Increase lung capacity and therefore oxygen levels in the blood
- Reduce the efforts of doctors and tissue engineers
- Less likelihood of rejection after transplantation
- Help in easy analysis of the effect of drugs on the human body
- Can avoid organ trafficking
- Affordable to almost everyone
Cons of 3D Printing
- Pollution of the surrounding environment by emitting harmful particles in the air
- Rising questions about the failure of organs in accordance with the functions of neighboring body parts
- The patient might develop autoimmune to destroy donated tissue
- Lack of precision in droplet placement and size
- Need for low viscosity bioink
- Ethical concerns
- Utilizes a tremendous amount of energy for printing
- The price of biomaterial may increase over time
Final Words
With the advancement in 3D printing technology, we will be able to use patient’s cells and print organ patches, skin grafts, bones, and fully functional organs.
Scientists have forecasted a very bright future where human body parts can be easily transplanted using bioprinted organs.
Sooner the gap between supply and demand of organs will be reduced by future 3D Printers.
Currently, 3D Bioprinting is used for pharmaceutical development and drug validation. Researches are still going on for bioprinting human organs, and it is still under test. So let’s wait for few more years.
I hope this short article gave you enough insights into the pros and cons of 3D printing organs. Let me know if you have got any questions about Bioprinting in the comment section below.
