Advertisement

A 3D-printed patch could help you recover from a heart attack

Scientists have bioprinted a cell patch that heals scarred heart tissue.

Patrick O'Leary, University of Minnesota

Scientists have dreamed of easily patching up heart tissue in the wake of heart attacks, but there are always gotchas: for example, it's no mean feat to replicate the complex structures of real tissue. However, there may be a solution in sight. Researchers have produced a 3D-printed cell patch that can heal scarred heart tissue. The team used laser-based bioprinting to fit stem cells (based on adult human heart cells) to a matrix developed around a 3D scan of heart tissue's native proteins. When those cells grew, the matrix not only replicated the structures of regular heart tissue (down to 1 micron) but started beating in sync. And the early results are very promising.

After the team tested its patch on a mouse, the rodent's heart saw a "significant increase" in functional capacity in the space of 4 weeks. Moreover, it eventually absorbed into the heart -- the team didn't have to perform follow-up operations to make sure it was a good fit.

Naturally, a mouse heart is easier to fix than a much larger human heart. The researchers see this as just a matter of time, though. They believe that human-scale patches should be viable "within the next several years." If so, recovering from a heart attack may just be a matter of implanting some custom-printed tissue and waiting for your health to improve.