Shock: First heart 3D printed with patient's own cells

Researchers at Tel Aviv University (Israel) have succeeded in printing the first 3D heart using cells and biological materials from a patient.

10 years from now, will hospitals have 3D heart printers?

This medical breakthrough, just published in Advanced Science, shows that researchers have created an entire heart, complete with cells, blood vessels, ventricles, and more. It's a marked improvement over previous efforts that only printed simple tissues without vessels.

The process of creating a heart begins with a biopsy of fatty tissue taken from the patient. Cellular material from the tissue is used as the “ink” for the printing job. This allows researchers to create complex models that include heart patches and eventually entire hearts.

It’s worth noting that the 3D printed heart isn’t very big, at about the size of a rabbit’s. But the technology promises to soon allow it to be fully functional, which could lead to the production of a human-sized organ. For now, the heart can only contract, but the researchers plan to grow the 3D printed hearts and teach them to function like a real heart. Once that process is complete, they’ll try to implant them into animal models.

3D printing of heart from Tel Aviv University.

Researchers have been working on 3D-printed tissues for years, with the ultimate goal of creating functional organs for transplant. Scientists involved in the heart project at Tel Aviv University hypothesize that within 10 years, organ printers could be available in hospitals.