Research Assessment #11

Name: Milind Renjit

Date: 10/23/18

Subject: 3D Printing Fully Functional Hearts For Patient Use

Teacher: Mrs. Brittain

MLA citation:  

 

Molina, Brett. “This Startup Wants to Create a 3D-Printed Heart.” USA Today, Gannett Satellite Information Network, 21 Feb. 2018, www.usatoday.com/story/tech/news/2018/02/21/startup-wants-create-3-d-printed-heart/354838002/.

 

Assessment:

 

Imagine a world where a person undergoes heart failure and is in need of a new heart as soon as possible in order to survive. This person is then admitted into a hospital and brought into surgery, but instead of waiting hours for a transplant, a heart is sitting on the table ready for the patient. How is this possible? Well, the answer to this question is the 3D printing of a fully functional heart using the patient's own heart cells. This article titled, “This startup wants to create a 3D-printed heart”, is an informational article published by USA Today. This is a news source that has been reporting news trustfully for a number of years. This article provides readers with a basic introduction to the very complex concept of 3D printed hearts. Being such a cutting-edge technology I feel that this would be a perfect topic to become knowledgeable about, and I realized this would be a perfect topic for my original work.

 

The article starts off by introducing the company that's leading the industry on this technology. BioLife4D is a crowd-funded scientific company with the goal of being the first to bring 3D printed organs to the market. As a student that is currently enrolled in high school, even hearing the talks of being able to print a 3D model of an organ piqued my interest and seemed nearly impossible. The possibility to be able to build a working heart was seemingly impossible, but as I looked into the technology I started to realize the infinite potential this could mean for medicine. Ideally, a patient will be diagnosed with the need for a new heart well before his/her arrival to the hospital. During this lengthy process of transporting the patient to the hospital, the surgeon who will be performing the surgery can begin the printing process for the new heart. This is done so that it will be ready or close to completion when the patient arrives for surgery. Given a perfect condition, there are plenty of donor's hearts available in close proximity, which means only a few minutes of waiting for the patient. However, this is not the point of a system like the 3D printed heart. More often than not the donor list is sparse and a matching heart is hours away. In a situation like this not having to wait hours upon hours could be the factor between saving a life or not. This method can help save more lives in desperate need and help get the donor heart to the best possible candidates in the shortest time possible.

 

Heart transplant surgeries are usually performed for very specific cases regarding only the worst cases with the hearts in the worst conditions. Being knowledgeable about such a topic can greatly enhance my understanding of the rigor and importance of becoming a cardiothoracic surgeon. This knowledge could help set me apart in a room of prospective medical students and could even come in handy given an emergency situation. With conducting more research and using this topic as my original work I can further my understanding of the procedures necessary, but also inform the public of this technology that is so cutting edge they might not have heard about it before. The more support this project gets, the closer it will be to becoming a reality, and this is a cause that I believe I can advance through my actions. And hopefully, one day can become a reality that saves lives.

 

In conclusion, the future of organ transplants and specifically heart transplants are based almost completely on the technology of 3D printed, fully functioning organs. The time of availability itself is reason enough for the praise that such a procedure can procure. Bypassing the need for the organ donor waitlist and the numerous hours that could be wasted in identifying the perfect match, an unprecedented amount of lives have the potential to be saved. Using some of the information I have learned from this article, I believe that my original work can become more informative and effective at its purpose. Hopefully, this knowledge will help me advance the spreading of this revolutionary technology with my original work and it can help save lives through the use of this superior technology/process.