Science and Medicine

3D printing in medicine: customized heart valves

26 July 2019 | Written by La redazione

Made of silicone, they are ready in about an hour and a half. It is only the latest application of 3D printing in the medical field

Technological evolution and scientific discoveries are increasingly leading us to personalized medicine. This revolution could soon also affect cardiac surgery, with the introduction of “tailor-made” heart valves for each heart, made thanks to 3D printing. They are the result of a study published in the journal Matter and conducted by researchers led by the Federal Polytechnic of Zurich (Eth), in collaboration with the South African company Strait Access Technologies (Sat). This is the latest application of 3D printing in the medical field: from prostheses to bioprinting, there are many innovations that this technology could bring into the healthcare sector.

 

The valve is made from a computerized tomography or an MRI, which allow printing a silicone object, flexible and biocompatible, and that fits perfectly to the patient’s heart. These new valves have numerous advantages compared to the current ones, mechanical or derived from animals: they can be made in about an hour and a half, with a remarkable time saving compared to what happens today, and they are easier to connect to the heart tissue, avoiding, in fact, the risk of having to resort for a long time (if not for life) to very heavy anti-rejection therapies for our body. The new approach will help to cope with the progressive aging of the world population: it is estimated, in fact, that in 2050 about 850,000 people will need to replace one of their own heart valves. The valves are still in the testing phase and the researchers make it clear that they will take still about 10 years before they are actually available.

Revolution also in the world of prosthetics. From simple pieces of wood held together by strips of leather to robotic arms controlled by thought, the evolution of prostheses is under everyone’s eyes and has allowed us to significantly improve the quality of life of patients. Today we are at the dawn of a further revolution, the one carried by 3D printing that allows the creation of custom-made prostheses, reducing the costs and the weight of these technological devices. A mechanical prosthesis can cost up to $ 50,000, a figure well beyond the possibilities of many people: for this reason, there are many startups and non-profit initiatives that are engaging in the sector, creating 3D-printed mechanical prostheses at prices very low, around 50 dollars.

 

Print cells and tissues directly with Bioprinting. In the common view, 3D printing mainly uses materials of plastic, metal and polymer origin. Thanks to bioprinting, however, we can replace these elements with living human cells, opening the door to new interesting applications in the medical field. The main advantage of an artificial reproduction technique of this type is the elimination of the rejection factors because the new tissue or organ would be created “ad personam”, starting from the same cells of the receiving individual. One of the current obstacles, instead, is the vascularization of the printed tissue, an aspect on which the efforts and energies of scholars and researchers are focusing. We know, in fact, that it is not a problem to use stem cells to create specific tissues, but it is to develop their relative vascularization: without capillaries that carry nutrients and eliminate waste, any tissue is destined to die. This technology is not yet ready, therefore, but there are encouraging results from the research: last April a 3D printed mini-heart, the size of a cherry, was created for the first time using human tissues. The research was carried out by researchers from the University of Tel Aviv, who printed a heart complete with cells, blood vessels, ventricles, and chambers. At the moment, the heart is unable to beat and therefore to pump blood, but the development of this technology could revolutionize the transplant sector and lead to the creation of organs tailored to patients.

La redazione
La redazione

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