Twenty-two people die each day awaiting a transplant. Right now, during the last ten minutes on this day in March in the year 2017, another person was added to the transplant list according to U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Another person that might never see the transplant scheduled. Another person who might slowly dwindle away while they hold out hope that maybe, just maybe they will find a match in time. Another person who could pass away in the dawn of life due to organ failure or complications because their own body does not stand a chance. Every minute of every day this occurs and every minute another individual might be left with an empty promise of hope. Figure 1.1 illustrates the need for organs throughout the United States. 8,000 deaths occur every year in the U.S. because organs are not donated in time.
Figure 1.1
There are several organs that can actually be acquired from a living person, but these situations are difficult and involve much upfront testing and with a long recovery time after surgeries for both the donor and the receiver. Without a proper match of blood type, tissue testing, and cross matching between the two individuals, a transplant is not achievable. When the donor is unfortunately someone who has passed away, transplants of multiple organs, eight to be exact, are possible if the person is a match and their organs are still viable and functioning. Most individuals in this instance are brain dead, but machines, like a ventilator, keep them alive until their organs can be removed from transplant.
Some people believe that the family of the deceased must pay for the procedure to donate organs, but this is untrue. According to the American Transplant Foundation, the family never incurs any cost. Unfortunately, only 48% of individuals in the United States are registered as organ donors, even though 98% support organ donation. This is the case because individuals are not automatically listed at a specific age in the United States. This is not the case in some other countries. In Argentina and Chile, for instance, when a citizen reaches the age of eighteen, they are automatically listed as organ donors unless they state they want to opt-out.
I am not here to decide which country has made the right decision on how to this complicated and emotional process. I just want to provide hope. Hope to all individuals that the future of organ transplants may be brighter than we think. The solutions of the future will not require one life to be lost to provide someone else with a chance to continue living. Hope and time are all these patients ask for and the discoveries and progress that scientists are making in this field may provide both of those things.
For the past few decades, studies have been performed, results tested and retested, by multiple scientists who hope to find a way to “cure” the need for transplants. In the year 2017, these solutions are still in the trial stage in the United States and are not being tested on humans yet. However, in the next five to ten years, I think that the transplant process and means by which we gain access to viable organs will be completely transformed. With advancements in technology, new processes such as 3-D bioprinting, and the desire by many creative and intelligent people to change the world and the medical industry for the better, the possibilities are endless.
Before we jump too far ahead, consider some of the astonishing accomplishments already made and products currently under development in 2017 to move toward a bright future in the next ten years.
In the new era of 3D bioprinting, scientists will use live cells as ‘ink’ and assemble the cells layer-by-layer into tissues. The next step will be to provide printed tissue samples to repair damaged organs in the human body. With further research being conducted and the complicated architectures of organs being able to be replicated, 3D organs will only get better. Addressing the building of the complexity of organs will require the use of technologies from the fields of engineering, biomaterials science, cell biology, physics and medicine. Advances such as using a spinach leaf to develop and reenact how veins move blood through the heart, will be more common in developing the complex functions of organs.
In the United Kingdom, a three-year-old girl has successfully received the first life-saving kidney transplant using 3D bioprinting. After having heart failure when just four months old, Lucy’s kidneys were starved of oxygen and she was told she would need to receive dialysis for the rest of her life, or receive a transplant. After checking for a match, Lucy’s father Chris donated one of his kidneys. The surgeon made a detail model of Lucy’s fathers kidney and Lucy’s abdomen with a 3D printer. This allowed then to map out the procedure, which lowered the chance of complications and risk. The surgery took place last November and both Lucy and her father Chris are now in recovery. According to St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust: “It is the first time in the world that 3D printing has been used to aid kidney transplant surgery involving an adult donor and a child recipient.”
The 3D printer was purchased last August by the hospital to specifically aid in conduction difficult organ transplants. At the time, Mr Pankaj Chandak, specialist registrar in transplant surgery at St Thomas’, said: “This type of surgery is especially complex. The 3D printing of the donor’s kidney and the child’s blood vessels will assist the surgical team ahead of the operation and will increase the chances of the transplant being a success.”
3D printing is being widely used by several hospitals as a surgery aid, and is being used more for research on printing an entire, functioning human organ.
Speaking of how the present will impact the near future, let us fast forward to the year 2027. Imagine we are in the Seattle Children’s Research Hospital with a patient named Liam. Liam is only three months old and has suffered from biliary atresia since birth. Biliary atresia is a disease that occurs in children born without bile ducts or with abnormal bile ducts, as explained in research from the Seattle Children’s Hospital. Biliary atresia is the cause of about half of all liver transplants in children. Due to this illness, little Liam needs a liver transplant. Liam’s situation is already dire, but things are even worse; he unfortunately has the rarest blood type: AB negative. According to the Red Cross, only 1% of Caucasians have this blood type. It is even more rare in African Americans.
Liam has no siblings yet and neither his parents nor any of his other relatives are a match. In the year 2017, this would be a terrifying and probably insurmountable problem. However, in 2027 due to extreme advancements in technology that perfected processes started in the early 2000’s, doctors will provide a solution to Liam’s health problem. Using a culture of Liam’s own cells, a new liver will be printed specifically for him using a 3D printer. Since Liam’s own cells are being used to create the organ, the risk of a transplant organ rejection is extremely low, this is illustrated by Future Technologies: Bioprinting.
Yes, you read that correctly. In 2027, organs will be printed everyday. These organs are custom created for each patient to fit their special needs and save their life. No more desperate waiting on a transplant list to find a match before it is too late, lost lives will no longer be the main source of saving others. With advancements like this, the number of transplants in the U.S. will drastically increase. From 1988 to 2017, only 683,000 transplants have occurred. I believe the ability to print customized organs will triple if not quadruple this number.
Lives similar to Liam’s will be saved, when in the past, there was a slim chance to survive and live a long healthy life. People, both young and old, in debilitating and hopeless circumstances will also be saved. The possibilities truly are endless. The effects of a new source of organs extend far beyond the laboratory and operation room. As the alternative organ industry develops, matures, and expands there will be impacts on the medical field, patients, organ producers, government oversight agencies, and marketing companies.
As the printing and development of organs becomes more of a commercialized and competitive process, the costs associated with these surgeries will decrease. This means that lower income individuals who previously had no options will be able to afford to receive treatment and get the help they need. Also, since all organ replacement procedures will no longer require donors, the cost of testing two individuals and performing two surgeries will not be incurred. This in turn frees up time for doctors to focus on other patients and procedures, including additional organ transplants. The major savings associated with this whole process is that of a life. What really is more important?
Organ producers will be required to meet stringent standards and government oversight is a necessity, which could increase costs somewhat. But competition within the industry will naturally drive costs down.
Marketing will play a major role in this developing industry as accurate information exchange among the three key participants: producers, the medical community, and the consuming public will be vital. [HB1] Differences in the products and services offered must be clearly expressed through campaigns directed at innumerable markets of different ages and income brackets as well as a wide variety of specific conditions. The insurance industry will also be greatly impacted and need to develop effective marketing strategies to present material to their diverse clientele. Different payment options depending on income or condition must be developed and communicated.
The data regarding patient needs, available organ selections, doctors and hospitals with expertise, recovery therapies, research developments, changing technologies, costs, insurance coverage and options is massive. Analysis of this data will also significantly impact the dissemination of information and aid in providing background useful to marketers. Education based on correct facts, figures, and statistics will be greatly enhanced by data analytic tools.
As more organs are produced and technology develops, costs will hopefully decline. Ensuring the organs are safe and function just like an organ an individual is born with will be vital to the success of this advancement in technology. Safe, functional, and cost effective — three operative messages for future marketing of this opportunity for life.
This new world of bioprinting will not only open new doors in the United States, but it will also have a major global impact. With 3D printing transplants already taking place and legalized in the UK and other countries as discussed above, by 2027 this will be standard procedure. Individuals in developing countries will also have access to these technologies and avoid the huge costs associated with travelling elsewhere such as the United States, to have an organ transplant done.
Children who did not have a chance when born with complications will now have incredible opportunities — organ specifically designed for them. Adults who have suffered for many years with disease, or individuals who are now recovering alcoholics will have another chance to live. People of all ages will have the opportunity to grow old and meet their grandchildren and great-grandchildren, a chance they might have missed out on while waiting for a match for a transplant.
The impact these discoveries will have on the world in the next few years is amazing. It is incredible to consider that the ever increasing number of at least 119,000 individuals who have been searching for hope and spent years on the transplant list may have a second chance at long, healthy lives. Until 3D printing of organs becomes completely mainstream, legal, and FDA-approved in the U.S., I hope that we as citizens continue to check the box to be an organ donor when we receive a license. As great as technology is and will be in the future, it unfortunately cannot solve all of our problems. An individual may still be in dire need of your organs when you pass on. I know if I am not able to use my own organs anymore, but they are still usable for another, I want to give life to that person. I want them to have a chance to experience all the wonderful things I have already experienced in my short twenty-four years. Knowing that one of the last acts I could make on this earth could be to save a life when I cannot save my own provides some sort of hope, and that is all I want to provide people who are running low on time. And, the future is definitely positive.
