Surgeon Creates New Kidney by ‘Printing’ It
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A ground-breaking technique in regenerative medicine that can “print” a human kidney could eliminate the need for organ donors in the future, Agence France-Presse reported.
"It's like baking a cake," said Anthony Atala of the Wake Forest Institute of Regenerative Medicine at a TED Conference in Long Beach, Calif., on Thursday.
After scanners are used to create a 3-D image of the patient’s kidney that needs to be replaced, a tissue sample smaller than a postage stamp starts the computerized process of creating a new kidney—by “printing” layers of tissue.
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More than 90 percent of those waiting for transplants are specifically waiting for kidneys, and the supply of donated organs does not meet the need, according to Atala.
"There is a major health crisis today in terms of the shortage of organs," Atala said. "Medicine has done a much better job of making us live longer, and as we age our organs don't last."