Organ failure is a big challenge to overcome. Treatment drugs usually only
prolong, not stop, the failure. The best alternative option medicine has
come up with are organ transplants, which are faced with an abundance of
problems surrounding the procedure. Organ transplantation is usually done
by first putting a donor’s organ into static cold storage (SCS) to slow
down its metabolism.In case the organ stays in SCS for too long, hypoxia (lack of oxygen)
can cause heavy damage to the tissue. Additionally, for each person that
needs an organ, it requires another person that doesn’t. Because not every
organ is compatible with every patient, this leads to a lot of shortages
and long waiting lists. To make matters even more complicated, organs need
to be transplanted quickly, otherwise they will lose their functions.
prolong, not stop, the failure. The best alternative option medicine has
come up with are organ transplants, which are faced with an abundance of
problems surrounding the procedure. Organ transplantation is usually done
by first putting a donor’s organ into static cold storage (SCS) to slow
down its metabolism.In case the organ stays in SCS for too long, hypoxia (lack of oxygen)
can cause heavy damage to the tissue. Additionally, for each person that
needs an organ, it requires another person that doesn’t. Because not every
organ is compatible with every patient, this leads to a lot of shortages
and long waiting lists. To make matters even more complicated, organs need
to be transplanted quickly, otherwise they will lose their functions.
3D-printing, specifically bioprinting, tries to step in here, and recreate
these organs from the ground up. In some cases, like bladders, this has
been done successfully in the past. More complicated organs have proven to
be a bigger challenge yet to be conquered.
