RepRap Prints Blood Vessel Networks out of Sugar

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3D printable organs are in the works, but one thing holding researchers back is the lack of a way to print reliable vascular networks within the organs. If the blood can’t flow through correctly, the printed organs will fail. Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) believe they have found a way to produce dissolvable scaffolds that will create hollows within printable organs. Those hollows will mimic our own blood vessel networks and may be the key to successfully printing larger and more complex human organs for transplant.

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3D Printing Aids Doctors in Removal of Nearly Inoperable Tumor from 5-Year-Old Patient

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3D printing has once again proven vital in the the preparation stages of a life saving surgery, as a five year old from Spain named Marc faced a tumor that doctors deemed risky to remove. Since the age of one, Marc has been diagnosed with a neuroblastoma, a common form of pediatric cancer. Normally operating on such a tumor can be relatively simple, but due to the network of blood vessels and arteries surrounding Marc’s growth, doctors at Hospital Sant Joan de Déu de Esplugues de Llobregat in Barcelona feared causing damage to his liver, kidney, and stomach.

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