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A comment on U.S. surgeons transplant pig heart into human patient.

Re:U.S. surgeons transplant pig heart into human patient by kiba on Monday January 10, 2022 @05:09PM (#29883462)
We're getting good at building artificial nonorganic heart, still a bit away from growing conventional hearts.

I wonder how these future options intersect, whether one will win out over another, or we will be having hybrids?

Electromagnetic motors work fine, but a big issue with them is the method of powering them and maybe biocompatibility issue.

Normal organic hearts don't have this disadvantage but their downside is that they are in its infancy?

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Re:U.S. surgeons transplant pig heart into human patient by 323 on Monday January 10, 2022 @06:02PM (#29884252)
An organic heart can self-repair itself, unlike the mechanical one. It's also "proven" to potentially last 100 years with no maintenance required.
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Re:U.S. surgeons transplant pig heart into human patient by kiba on Monday January 10, 2022 @06:30PM (#29884624)
A mechanical heart could in theory be more reliable and less susceptible to issues of biology.
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Re:U.S. surgeons transplant pig heart into human patient by tired_medicine on Monday January 10, 2022 @09:54PM (#29886785)
Biological tissue is several orders of magnitude superior to mechanical organs.
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Re:U.S. surgeons transplant pig heart into human patient by iancmceachern on Monday January 10, 2022 @08:48PM (#29886101)
An example of this is the Carmet artificial heart from France. It has mechanical bits but also is made of organic tissue that is incorporated into the mechanical device.
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Re:U.S. surgeons transplant pig heart into human patient by soco on Monday January 10, 2022 @05:13PM (#29883516)
One word: 3D printing. Ok that was two words, but still exciting.
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Re:U.S. surgeons transplant pig heart into human patient by jacquesm on Monday January 10, 2022 @07:24PM (#29885258)
This has absolutely nothing to do with 3D printing.
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Re:U.S. surgeons transplant pig heart into human patient by spiralx on Tuesday January 11, 2022 @10:56AM (#29893036)
They're talking about bioprinting which is a rapidly developing field, with a lot of recent successes in "printing" liver tissue:

https://3dprintingindustry.com/news/tr-biofab-pulls-off-brea...

Being able to have a 3D printed liver is very plausible within the next decade.

https://www.3dsourced.com/guides/3d-printed-liver/

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Re:U.S. surgeons transplant pig heart into human patient by jacquesm on Tuesday January 11, 2022 @11:20AM (#29893453)
Liver is a fairly special case in that it is a sludge in a bag, a bit like kidneys and other filter organs. The subject here is a heart. There is absolutely no way that we're going to be 3d printing a heart in the foreseeable future.
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