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Doctors at Icheon St. Mary's Hospital in Korea have successfully transplanted a 3D-printed organ. The patient lost their windpipe, medically known as the trachea, due to cancer treatment. Using the patients' stem cells, the scientists combined them with polycaproactone and bioink. To make sure the trachea fit perfectly, the research team from the Catholic University of Korea, led by Professor Kim Sung-won, used data from the CT and MRI scans of the patient. This patient received their new transplanted trachea in 2023 and waited to announce it for 6 months to see how the recovery went.
The printed piece, due to being biodegradable, will only last around 5 years. As the scientists and doctors hoped, the patient's body is using the 3D printed organ to regenerate and fill in the piece with its own blood vessels. The advantage of 3D-printed organs is that they eliminate the need for immunosuppressant medications, as the organs are recognized as being part of the patient. This is the first organ that has been able to be printed and transplanted, but bioprinting has been happening for many years now. Things like the meniscus or the outside part of an ear have been printed and transplanted. See the video below to learn more about bioprinting.
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