Snappy newsletters. Simple Facebook sharing. Spirited comments. Sweet features are waiting… GET THEM NOW!

'Printer' Creates Organs for Transplant

Use of new technique could eventually end waiting lists for organs

By John Johnson, Newser Staff | Suggested by Disillusioned

Posted Jun 4, 2010 10:51 AM CDT

(Newser) – The principles of 3D printing are being applied to medicine, raising the possibility that doctors might someday be able to produce human organs for transplant and end the use of waiting lists. California biotech company Organovo already has a prototype of the so-called "bioprinter,... Read full story »

COMMENTS

Read the comment policy

You need to Log in to Newser to comment. Don't have an account yet? Sign up now!

8 comments

A snapshot of the day's best news stories.

View Larger Grid

All Today Yesterday Pick a Date

What's Popular Now on Facebook

'Serpent Pastor' Dies of Snake Bite

Oosp: Romney's New App Misspells 'America'

Telegraph (UK) (Source Grid »)
The Engineer (Source Grid »)

Science

medical breakthrough • organ transplants • organ donation • Organovo

More Newser Stories

Facebook's Organ Donor Push Should Go Further

Nation needs more living donors to step forward: Sally Satel

(NEWSER) - Facebook did a wonderful thing when it made it easy for people to register as organ donors upon death, writes Sally Satel at Bloomberg View . The number of future donors surged, and it looks to be more than a fleeting spike. The problem is that it's not nearly enough, writes Satel. Even if every American agreed to donate their organs at death, it wouldn't come close to meeting the needs of those on waiting lists. And, paradoxically, those lists might now grow larger as people who thought they didn't have a chance sign up because of the increased interest. What we need are more living donors. More»

Organs From US Troops Save Lives in Europe

Donations from mortally wounded troops have helped 140

(NEWSER) - Since 2006, organ donations from mortally wounded US troops have saved around 140 European lives, reports USA Today . The families of 36 American servicemembers who were declared brain dead from combat in Iraq and Afghanistan agreed to donate their hearts, kidneys, lungs, livers, and pancreases to patients in Europe. It's the result of military protocol: Wounded troops wind up at an Army medical center in Germany, and those who are brain dead are kept alive on a ventilator to give their families in the US time to fly in for a final goodbye. More»

Kidney Gets Donated—Twice

Surgeons recycle organ being rejected by first recipient

(AP) - It turns out you can recycle just about anything these days—even kidneys and other organs donated for transplants. In what is believed to be the first documented case of its kind in the US, a transplanted kidney that was failing was removed from a patient while he was still alive and given to somebody else. The donated kidney lasted just two weeks in the first patient, a 27-year-old Illinois man. The same disease that ruined his kidneys started to damage the new kidney, given to him by his sister. More»

Study May Be Breakthrough for Transplants

Patients accepted mismatched organs, without rejection drugs

(NEWSER) - A new study has the potential to be what the Los Angeles Times calls a "game-changer" in organ transplants. The idea seems simple enough: Give organ recipients a second transplant—of stem cells from the donor. This not only makes it more likely their body won't reject the organ, it keeps them off a lifetime regimen of nasty anti-rejection drugs. In the study, five of eight people who received kidneys that weren't perfect matches were able to be free and clear of such drugs within a year. More»

Artificial Windpipe Saves Cancer Patient

Lab-made organ successfully transplanted

(NEWSER) - They almost make it sound easy: Surgeons in Sweden removed a man's cancerous windpipe and replaced it with an artificial one they had whipped up in the lab, reports the BBC . No more diseased windpipe, no more cancer. "He was condemned to die," says one of surgeons of the 36-year-old male patient. "We now plan to discharge him [tomorrow]." More»

NEWS FROM OUR PARTNERS

What is Newser?

Face it: there's too much news. At Newser, we choose the most thought-provoking and entertaining stories from hundreds of US and international sources and reduce them to a headline, picture, and two paragraphs. And we do it 24/7—you can come back morning, noon, night (and in between) for something new that matters. Read less, know more.

Learn more »

Partnering with: Slate

View Newser on the mobile website

'Printer' Creates Organs for Transplant

Use of new technique could eventually end waiting lists for organs

medical breakthrough • organ transplants • organ donation • Organovo

MOST POPULAR STORIES

[ By Views ]

[ By Comments ]

More Newser Stories

Facebook's Organ Donor Push Should Go Further

Nation needs more living donors to step forward: Sally Satel

Organs From US Troops Save Lives in Europe

Donations from mortally wounded troops have helped 140

Kidney Gets Donated—Twice

Surgeons recycle organ being rejected by first recipient

Study May Be Breakthrough for Transplants

Patients accepted mismatched organs, without rejection drugs

Artificial Windpipe Saves Cancer Patient

Lab-made organ successfully transplanted

About Us

Site

Community

Site Maps

Tools

More News

What is Newser?