Scientists create for the first time a complete human heart with a 3D printer

According to a study released Monday, a team of Israeli scientists used a 3D printer to create a complete human heart. A remarkable feat that could change the world of medicine by ending the dependence of organs.

The world's first "printed heart" was made from human biological material, although its size is not too big, which makes it too small for humans, researchers said in the Advanced Science report. . But this achievement demonstrates the ability to 3D print full size organs someday, said the research team at the Jerusalem Post.

"This is the first time anyone has been able to design and print a whole heart filled with cells, blood vessels, ventricles and chambers," the team's principal professor, Tal, told the press. Dvir from Tel Aviv University.

"People have already succeeded in 3D printing the structure of a heart, but not with cells or blood vessels. Our results demonstrate the potential of our approach to engineering the custom replacement of tissues and organs in the future. "

The team took adipose tissue from patients and reprogrammed part of it into stem cells, the study said. These cells were then differentiated into cardiac and endothelial cells, which constitute the wall of the blood vessels, at the origin of the process.

The Dvir team said that larger hearts could be developed using this same process. The use of "native" human material is critical to the successful creation of tissues and organs, the team said.

The study's inspiration came from the heart problems of Israel and the United States, the leading cause of death for men and women in the United States and the second leading cause in Israel.

The researchers noted that heart transplants are the only form of treatment for people with end-stage heart failure and that many sick people die while waiting for a transplant, which can take six months or more.

The research team said the next step will be to cause the printed heart to act as an organic human heart by transplanting it into animals and, possibly, into humans. They hope that in the next 10 years, organ printers will be in hospitals "around the world" and that procedures will be a common practice.