Heart bioprinted for preoperative rehearsal and preparation

A team of researchers from Carnegie Mellon University (PA, USA) has bioprinted a human heart model, designed to help surgeons prepare for and rehearse surgical procedures. The model - reportedly the first full-size 3D bioprinted heart model - was created with the team’s own technique, Freeform Reversible Embedding of Suspended Hydrogels (FRESH), as previously described on 3DMedNet. The research, outlined in ACS Biomaterials Science & Engineering, demonstrates how the model realistically mimics the elasticity of cardiac tissue and sutures. The team hopes this design could be immediately clinically valuable for preoperative preparation as well as a step towards more advanced...