World First! Israel Produces First Workable Human Heart Using 3D Printer

Judy Siegel-Itzkovich : Apr 15, 2019
Breaking Israel News

"This is the first time anyone anywhere has successfully engineered and printed an entire heart replete with cells, blood vessels, ventricles and chambers … Maybe, in 10 years, there will be organ printers in the finest hospitals around the world, and these procedures will be conducted routinely." – Professor Tal Dvir

(Israel) — [Breakingisraelnews.com] For the first time ever, Israeli scientists have created a vascularized human heart that completely matches the immunological, cellular, biochemical and anatomical properties of a human patient, using a 3D printer.

Until now, scientists in regenerative medicine – a field that integrates biology and technology – have been successful in printing only simple tissues without blood vessels.

This major medical breakthrough at Tel Aviv University has just been published in the journal Advanced Science by team leader Prof. Tal Dvir under the title 3D Printing of Personalized Thick and Perfusable Cardiac Patches and Hearts." He was assisted by Nadav Noor, Dr. Assaf Shapira, Reuven Edri, Idan Gal and Lior Wertheim.

The huge achievement brings hope that within a decade or so, instead of sick people dying due to failing organs or waiting a long time for a donor heart from a brain-dead individual, hospitals will be able to print it or other organs from the cells of the would-be recipient.