3D Bioprinting Technology Essay Sample

In April of 2017, forty percent of people who have had a heart transplant were found to experience rejection within a year. Rejection of an organ occurs when the body recognizes antigens on the organ that are different from the rest of the body. Once the cells are recognized, the immune system begins to attack these cells leading to the person having a fatal reaction. This reaction causes the organ to become faulty and to function poorly, ultimately leading to organ failure. Thus, with the advancement of 3D printing engineering, doctors and scientists have discovered a way to revolutionize medicine through a similar technology called bioprinting. Bioprinting is the use of 3D printing technology to create living viable cell structures which will function as normal human cells would. Moreover, the advanced technology of 3D bioprinting hearts has many opportunities and obstacles within it.

Undoubtedly, providing a modified heart to people who require it, will dramatically improve the rate of people who survive heart diseases. At the moment, there are around four thousand people in the United States waiting for a heart match to be found and donated, and by 3D bioprinting hearts, many of these lives could be saved. Likewise, researchers at PR Newswire found “By using MRI data of a human heart, we were able to accurately reproduce patient-specific anatomical structure and 3D bioprint collagen and human heart cells” (PR Newswire “Researchers revolutionize 3D bioprinting by engineering working components of the human heart”).  Hence, having the ability to change the size of the hearts allows for recipients to receive a heart that will function properly according to their body mass, height, and size. This is especially beneficial in pediatric transplant cases, because most children cannot get a heart that will fit their chest cavity, resulting in a long time waiting for a heart. With that, the longer a person stays on a transplant list, the more critical the condition could get, causing the person to become ineligible for a traditional heart transplant. This complication could be resolved by 3D printing a heart for the patient which will occur at a much faster rate than waiting on the transplant list, allowing for an increased lifespan and an improved quality of life. In addition to using 3D printing to make much-needed organs, 3D printing will also reduce the chances of the human body rejecting new organs. In the YouTube video created by ColdFusion, it was found “When using a sample from a patient's cells, a personal hydrogel can be made using their cells, potentially resolving the risk of rejection” (“Scientists 3D Print Human Heart!” 00:02:53-00:03:00). Conversely, using cells from a person’s body excludes the opportunity for the immune system to recognize the scaffold organ as a foreign object, immensely minimizing the risk of rejection. The stem cells created from the person’s cells contain the same DNA as the rest of the body, and when fully developed will perform identically to normal cardiac cells. Organ rejection will lead to agonizing symptoms and subsequently, death. If a person can receive a 3D printed heart, the amount of stress over potentially losing the organ or worrying about anti-rejection medications will dramatically suppress, leading to a reformed quality of life.

In contrast to the positives in 3D bioprinting, many obstacles are surrounding this newfound idea. After many different individualized therapies like gene therapy and cancer immunotherapy became more available to the public, the therapies became too expensive for anybody but the wealthy to afford. In the article created by Membership Ascb, the same concern was expressed that 3D bioprinting hearts could become “accessible only to the very rich (or very well-insured)” (Membership Ascb “Bioprinting: Ethical and societal implications”). While 3D bioprinting is a recently developed phenomenon, it is possible it may become rare and only available to certain people. Furthermore, the machines used to print these hearts are also significantly expensive and time-consuming, which could lead it to be perceived as a luxury and not a necessity. Because other personalized medicines have abnormally high prices, the same issues will likely occur with 3D bioprinting. Presuming the testing and research goes well for 3D printing, the price will start substantially high making it only available to the prosperous, as it is a groundbreaking procedure and has revolutionary effects on medicine. Another reason why it may be hard for the general public to obtain a 3D printed organ is that miniature vital vascular structures in the heart like capillaries, which are necessary for heart function, are extremely difficult to 3D print correctly. In the European Journal of Cardio-Thoracic Surgery, one of the main challenges found in 3D bioprinting hearts was that “only capillary-sized, disorganized vasculature has been generated” (Roche et.al.,). Given that the organization of capillaries is vital to organ function, each capillary system is correlated to fit the needs of different tissues and organs. Without proper blood flow to an organ, there is no way for the tissues to obtain oxygen and nutrients which are imperative for the organ to perform accurately. As the capillaries are the smallest blood vessels in the human body, it is nearly impossible for 3D printing machines to create these minuscule structures without error.

In the event that a 3D bioprinted scaffold organ does not execute its job properly, the doctors and engineers of the scaffold are responsible. To demonstrate, if a scaffold was not fitted correctly and had complications that were not found, the doctors and engineers are accountable. The author Keith Krickpatrick found that in 3D printing, there are many challenges that when not noticed could cause organ failure, like, “creating blood vessels that will work immediately” (Kirkpatrick, 3D-Printing Human Body Parts). Crucially, the doctors and engineers, who are masters of the mechanics, are responsible for spotting errors in the 3D printing mechanics. Creating blood vessels is a very complex part of the 3D printing process and if there are any malfunctions it is imperative to recognize and repair them. If these complications are not resolved, there could be major complications that may not be noticed until it is too late to fix. These complications could lead to death and a delayed release of this therapy to the public. In 3D printing, it is also imperative to mix the cells and solutions correctly or the heart may be faulty. One of the challenges doctors and engineers like Roche have found in 3D printing hearts is having the “Correct cell mix mimicking mature myocardial tissue” (Roche et.al.,).  If the doctor or engineer does not combine the cells perfectly, there could be defects in the formation of the heart. Defects in the heart prohibit the heart from functioning as a normal heart would. Some examples of defects include a decreased stamina of the heart, dysfunctional valves, and weaker heart muscles. These actions are all crucial attributes of a healthy human heart and if the defects aren’t caught by the doctor and engineers, they could cause death or more severe illness and suffering.

The innovative technology of 3D bioprinting hearts has many positive possible outcomes and contradictory results. The positive elements of 3D bioprinting are that it allows for anyone to have access to a heart and have it made from their cells, reducing the risk of rejection. The negative factors of 3D bioprinting are that printing the smaller blood vessels is challenging to do accurately and it is possible obtaining a 3D printed heart will be very expensive. If a complication were to arise with the scaffold, the doctors and engineers are responsible for the malfunctions. Conclusively, 3D bioprinting technologies have a lot of potential for success despite the many risks that come with releasing them to the public.