The proliferation of 3D printing is undoubtedly going to revolutionize the way healthcare is delivered. Already, 3D printers are for wounded soldiers. The push is now underway to construct usable human tissue. The Economist, this week, goes into a fair amount of detail about how we can expect this technology to develop, in an article called .
Of course when 3D printer technology sophisticated enough to construct functioning organs comes to market is a ways off. We are not going to be like salamanders anytime soon. But, more or less, we are heading that way. Anthony Atala, the medical researcher (he might be an MD, I am not sure), explains how in this excellent TEDMED presentation;
Imagine, in the future, there being something like a cat scan array, where one lies down, is immobilized, and then pushed into a sleek chamber. Then, some amount of time later, that person comes out, and a brand new organ has now been integrated within the body. Later, when the anesthesia wears off, the person notices that the lettering on the chamber reads “Organ Printer 3000″.
This technology is a biggie due to the philosophical considerations it brings about. Undoubtedly, once these machines get sophisticated enough, some may start referring to them as “God machines” or another name of the same ilk. This discussion will be a continuation of the stem cell debate because the advancement of 3D organ printing technology is, in more ways than one, directly related to the advancement of our understanding of stem cells.
As all parts of the world get more populated, both the philosophical discussion – which includes the ethical questions of how this technology is to be applied – and the technology will become of ever greater importance.
Donor wait lists are already too long for many patients to survive: artificial organs are a real need. Countries are already too big for governance alone to hope to effectively regulate the proper use of this technology; a strong ethical debate would make regulation easier by embedding, more readily, the rights and wrongs of this technology into the social consciousness.
The number of biotech patents in Asia has skyrocketed in the past decade. Moreover, Asian labs have taken to stem cells as a champion issue of national prestige; stem cell technology, again, is crucial to pushing forward the development of 3D organ printing . Throw in the fact that the number of scientists, engineers, and medical doctors in the West is stagnating, and it would not be iconoclastic to say that Asia could very quickly find itself at the forefront of organ printing technology; or, at least, find itself in the very thick of things.
What do you all think? What are some of the big questions that this technology will spark?
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nice aricle, I found here the future medical procedure for organ printing () seams like we are going to live much longer than we thought.