Artificial blood vessels

2024: 3D printer started printing artificial blood vessels

At the end of July 2024, it became known that researchers from the University of Edinburgh successfully created artificial blood vessels using 3D printing technology.

These innovative gel-like tubes are very similar to human veins and can be used in heart bypass surgery and other surgeries, improving surgical outcomes. In addition, they can reduce health care costs and increase the availability of life-saving procedures, as well as empower personalized medicine to meet the individual needs of patients.

source = University of Edinburgh

We can make flexible, easily integrable 3D grafts 1 to 40 mm thick in diameter for a variety of applications, "the press release said.

The main purpose of artificial vessels is to use as shunts in coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG). Traditionally, coronary artery bypass grafting involves taking veins from the patient's own body, but this procedure can lead to complications, such as scarring, and is accompanied by an increased risk of infection. 3D-printed artificial blood vessels can solve these problems by providing an easily accessible alternative with the ability to customize parameters individually.

The production of artificial vessels includes two stages. First, a 3D printer equipped with a rotating spindle prints tubular transplants from a water-based gel, and then they are strengthened using electrospinning technology, a method that uses high voltage to apply an ultra-thin coating of biodegradable polyester nanofibers. The strength of such grafts is comparable to that of natural blood vessels, and the flexible structure makes it easy to deliver and integrate grafts during surgery.^[1]

2023: Method developed to grow artificial blood vessels from natural tissues

On August 1, 2023, Australian researchers from the University of Melbourne reported on the development of a fast, inexpensive and scalable method for forming blood vessels from natural tissues. The technology is expected to help save the lives of a huge number of patients around the world.

Experts say that blood vessels are highways that transport oxygen-rich blood and nutrients to all corners of the body, nourishing tissues and organs, as well as simultaneously removing toxic waste. Disease and dysfunction of blood vessels can lead to life-threatening situations such as heart attack, stroke and aneurysm. To replace damaged blood vessels, a shunt operation using shunts made of synthetic polymers is traditionally used.

Researchers report developing fast, inexpensive and scalable method to form blood vessels from natural tissues

However, small-diameter blood vessels, such as the coronary artery that feeds blood to the heart, cannot be replaced by synthetic analogues. In this case, the vessel is taken from another part of the patient's body. But some patients lack appropriate transplant vessels because of previous surgeries or comorbidities, such as diabetes. The new technology is designed to solve this problem.

Blood vessels are complex and multi-layered structures, which is why creating them in a laboratory is a very difficult task. In particular, expensive equipment is required, and performance is low. Australian specialists managed to bypass difficulties thanks to the use of several materials and technologies for the manufacture of fabrics. Moreover, the vessels obtained according to the technology repeat the complex geometry and structure of natural elements.

First, scientists created a shape on which layers of blood vessels grow. This was done by electrospinning a layer of polymer fibers on a framework that provides a tubular vessel shape. To align the fibers along the axis of the tube, a simple freezing technique had to be used: ice crystals formed along the vessel lined the fibers in the desired direction. Next, muscle cells were created around the fibers on the hydrogel layer.^[2]

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