The potential of 3D printed organ transplant
Ousmane Bah
The Division of Science, The City College of New York
ENGL 21003: Witting for the Sciences
Professor Brittany Zayas
April 09, 2025
The technological break through of 3D printing stands for a breakthrough in modern medicine, offering the reduction of time there is to wait for an organ transplantation. In a future where you do not have to wait for years on a list to decide whether you live or not. 3D printing technology is becoming our future right before our eyes. This advancement allows medicine to move forward and become more reliable, but there will be a price to pay for this.
How is this possible
For plastic to be used as an organ it must go through many phases. There is a big use of technology when it comes to printing organs. This includes the right techniques, structure, and the right facilities. But this all comes with a cost and the money to make this must come from somewhere. “The main problem is ensured that both 3D and 4D printed materials are compatible and do not provoke an immune response.” Prakash, A. Sridhar, S. B. Wali, A. F. Talath, S. Shareef, J. & Malviya, R. (2024). Making sure the immune system will keep up the organ is going to be one of the hardest problems. For a human made object to go from fake to real live organs there will be many difficulties. There are many ways to improve the organ with better technology. “Unlike traditional 2-dimensional imaging technology, 3D printing can create 3D reconstructions using individual CT/MRI scan data.” Prakash, A. Sridhar, S. B. Wali, A. F. Talath, S. Shareef, J. & Malviya, R. (2024). With better understanding of technology, we can make organ donation easier. But the amount of power money and blood that will be needed is one of the greatest problems.
Resources
Even if you think it is as easy as using a machine there is a major set back with this. With AI being more advanced than a few years ago. With the amount of energy needed to create these machines and have them work. “Machine learning algorithms can be trained with many PPG waveforms and corresponding BP values. Thus, they can learn the specific PPG patterns associated with a drop or a rise in BP.” Michard, F., Mulder, M. P., Gonzalez, F., & Sanfilippo, F. (2025). This means that by looking at enough examples of how a person’s pulse wave changes when their blood pressure goes up or down, we can begin to recognize the patterns. These patterns can then be used to estimate blood pressure without needing a traditional cuff. This method is especially useful for continuous monitoring, like with wearable devices, and could help patients and doctors catch changes in blood pressure more quickly and easily whether at home, at work, or in the hospital. “Despite significant excitement surrounding AI-enabled tools, a gap remains between the perceived potential of these technologies and their proven clinical value.” (Michard, F., Mulder, M. P., Gonzalez, F., & Sanfilippo, F. 2025). While it may seem like we are moving forward with technology it will take a lengthy process for it to prove working. Doing the work in a lab is different from proving it works and help doctors make better decision. So, in the meantime precaution must be taken when using these machines. Do not just look at the fact that these machines and products can deliver something good but also focus on the better outcomes and what they really deliver.
With all this good tech coming into the world we should also make sure we know it is here to help not replace. There are many exciting things that can happing many people it can help but do not forget who created it. This way it can be used safely and respectfully making sure those in need will always be able to afford and get access if needed. “The 3D printed abdominal cavity model can be manufactured in <10 h and was useful for preventing large-for-size syndrome in small-sized recipients.” (Park, S., Choi, G. S., Kim, J. M., Lee, S., Joh, J. W., & Rhu, J. 2022). We can see how fast it is to grow an organ; in less 12 hours you can have what would have normally taken years to obtain. We as humans are known to have greed and that is dangerous for the medical world. If one tries to up the prices for these surgeries for their own gain, there will a big problem with the medical world and health in general. There will be problem since wealth levels is an already years apart. The lower income people will continue to not get care. “Our 3D printed model enabled fast printing with low cost, which is essential for emergency operation such as DDLT. The median manufacturing times were 568 min and 601 min for adult and pediatric recipients, respectively.” (Park et al., 2022). The hours it takes to print will also depend on the size of the human and age. With all these factors at bay we know that the price for the materials will the most expensive thing in the markets. This also means that a lot of organs will not be available at the right times. So, making sure organization is in the mix will be best.
Risk
This article really shows how important it is to think about the money and real-life challenges behind 3D-printed organ transplants. It explains that latest technology like 3D printing could make transplants cheaper and easier to get, especially for people who might be stuck waiting. But it also makes you think about how patients will be taken care of, who will qualify for these transplants, and how things like a person’s background or situation could make a difference. Even though the technology sounds exciting, there are still risks, and it is important to make sure it is used in a way that is fair and safe for everyone. “Worldwide, teams have been investigating how to propose better models to improve organ supply and demand issues.” (Pruinelli et al., 2025. Organ transplants is a global problem and not just one country’s problems. Scientists of all kinds coming together to make it possible is the best way to use AI. By using advanced science, they hope to make organs available to all and fair to all patients. fixing organs problems requires both technology and better planning. “Another limitation is the inclusion of features commonly found in national registries; thus, lacking patient variability and other social determinants of health, specifically with the increased evidence that these factors are associated with processes of care and outcomes.” (Pruinelli et al., 2025). There is a major weakness in the current system used for organ transplantation. The national registry that stores patients’ information do not differentiate the critical information from the basic information. A person social determinant of are often left out effecting their spots on the donor list. This is serious since it can affect a person health, and it is unfair and less effective. There needs to be complete background check and human centered data when using technology like AI or 3D to decide whose life to save and how they receive treatment.
3D printing technology has the potential to change the future of organ transplantation. It’s a way to give good hope to those who actually needs it. They have a better chance making sure that they get an organ created with their cells making their survival rate higher and quality way better. But before all this there are the factors like high production cost, approval, and making sure the organ is long term practical is still to be considered. The organ world being a market makes it even harder for them to be fairness making sure the printed organs can reach everyone who needs them.
References
Prakash, A. Sridhar, S. B. Wali, A. F. Talath, S. Shareef, J. & Malviya, R. (2024). 3D and 4D printed materials for cardiac transplantation: Advances in biogenerative engineering. Bioprinting. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bprint.2024.e00362
Michard, F., Mulder, M. P., Gonzalez, F., & Sanfilippo, F. (2025). AI for the hemodynamic assessment of critically ill and surgical patients: focus on clinical applications. Annals of Intensive Care, 15(1). http://dx.doi.org.ccny-proxy1.libr.ccny.cuny.edu/10.1186/s13613-025-01448-w
Park, S., Choi, G. S., Kim, J. M., Lee, S., Joh, J. W., & Rhu, J. (2022). 3D Printing Model of Abdominal Cavity of Liver Transplantation Recipient to Prevent Large-for-Size Syndrome. International journal of bioprinting, 8(4), 609. https://doi.org/10.18063/ijb.v8i4.609
Pruinelli, L., Balakrishnan, K., Ma, S. et al. Transforming liver transplant allocation with artificial intelligence and machine learning: a systematic review. BMC Med Inform Decis Mak 25, 98 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12911-025-02890-3
