Artificial blood vessels created on a 3D printer

[hue]

Source: BBC News

Artificial blood vessels made on a 3D printer may soon be used for transplants of lab-created organs.

Until now, the stumbling block in tissue engineering has been supplying artificial tissue with nutrients that have to arrive via capillary vessels.

A team at the Fraunhofer Institute in Germany has solved that problem using 3D printing and a technique called multiphoton polymerisation.

The findings will be shown at the Biotechnica Fair in Germany in October.

Out of thousands of patients in desperate need of an organ transplant there are inevitably some who do not get it in time.

Read more: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-14946808

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To all those political prisoners in Asia, 3rd world countries, the poor who sell their organs on the black market to feed their families,
I pray that other ways will be found! Artificial organ black markets are a black mark on the medical profession!

[Remmah2]

1. Good for paper cuts? nt

nt

[d_r]

2. remember the micronauts?

[eggplant]

3. Oh, sure. Just another was to take jobs away from people

I mean, if we can't harvest raw materials from political prisoners, how else will they make a living?

[PetrusMonsFormicarum]

4. Perhaps

they can follow this by 3D-printing some sphincters for Republican presidential candidates, so they can finally take care of their full-of-$hi† problems.

[gristy]

5. Here's what we have from the article

"The individual techniques are already functioning and they are presently working in the test phase; the prototype for the combined system is being built."

That can mean more or less just about anything. Assuredly less in this case.

[hue]

6. True but it gives some hope

Every step toward ending the sale of illegal organs is welcome IMHO

http://www.dailyfinance.com/2011/01/07/human-organ-trafficking-is-big-business-in-kosovo-china/