First 3D Printed Organ Implanted
Surgeons implanted the first 3D-printed trachea into a patient, opening a new era of bioprinting
June 01, 2011
Printing Living Tissue
Three-dimensional printing uses digital designs to build structures layer by layer. Scientists began exploring whether the same technology could build living tissue using cells as the "ink." In 1999, researchers at Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine, led by Dr. Anthony Atala, printed a scaffold for a human bladder and coated it with the patient's own cells. The lab-grown bladder was implanted into a patient and functioned successfully — a landmark moment in the history of medicine.
How Bioprinting Works
Bioprinting uses specialized printers loaded with bioink — a mixture of living cells and a gel-like support material. The printer deposits layers of bioink following a digital blueprint, building up three-dimensional shapes. The cells then multiply and begin functioning as biological tissue. Simple structures like bladders, skin, and cartilage have been successfully printed and implanted. More complex organs like the heart, liver, and kidney remain major challenges because they require blood vessel networks to deliver oxygen and nutrients deep into the tissue.
The Promise and the Challenge
Bioprinting could eventually solve the chronic shortage of donor organs by allowing doctors to print replacement tissues using a patient's own cells, eliminating rejection risk. Researchers have successfully printed miniature heart tissue that beats, liver tissue that filters toxins, and corneas. In 2019, an Israeli team printed the first 3D bioprinted heart using human tissue — tiny, but a conceptual breakthrough. Full organ printing for clinical use remains years away, but the pace of progress has been remarkable. See the first liver transplant story for the transplant context.