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Updated: Nov 21, 2025

Creation of Cardiac Tissue Exhibiting Mechanical Integration of Spheroids Using 3D Bioprinting
Published on: July 2, 2017
Progress in cardiovascular bioprinting
Faisal Quadri1, Soja Saghar Soman2, Sanjairaj Vijayavenkataraman2,3
1Division of Science, New York University Abu Dhabi, Abu Dhabi, UAE.
Insights
Bioprinting offers a promising solution to the organ donor shortage for cardiac patients. This review explores advancements, challenges, and future prospects of bioprinting for cardiovascular tissue replacement.
Area of Science:
- Regenerative Medicine
- Biotechnology
- Cardiovascular Science
Background:
- Cardiovascular disease remains the leading global cause of death.
- Limited regenerative capacity of cardiac tissue necessitates tissue replacement.
- Chronic organ donor shortage impacts patient outcomes, with ~20 daily deaths.
Purpose of the Study:
- To review progress in cardiovascular bioprinting.
- To discuss components and challenges of bioprinting for cardiac applications.
- To explore future prospects of clinical adoption.
Main Methods:
- Review of current literature on cardiovascular bioprinting.
- Analysis of bioprinting technologies and materials.
- Discussion of clinical translation barriers.
Main Results:
- Bioprinting shows potential for low-cost cardiac tissue fabrication.
- Key components and recent advancements in cardiovascular bioprinting are detailed.
- Effectiveness, cost, and workflow complexity hinder clinical adoption.
Conclusions:
- Bioprinting could alleviate organ donor shortages for cardiac patients.
- Overcoming current limitations is crucial for clinical translation.
- Future research should focus on demonstrating effectiveness and simplifying workflows.
Abstract:
Cardiovascular disease has been the leading cause of death globally for the past 15 years. Following a major cardiac disease episode, the ideal treatment would be the replacement of the damaged tissue, due to the limited regenerative capacity of cardiac tissues. However, we suffer from a chronic organ donor shortage which causes approximately 20 people to die each day waiting to receive an organ. Bioprinting of tissues and organs can potentially alleviate this burden by fabricating low cost tissue and organ replacements for cardiac patients. Clinical adoption of bioprinting in cardiovascular medicine is currently limited by the lack of systematic demonstration of its effectiveness, high costs, and the complexity of the workflow. Here, we give a concise review of progress in cardiovascular bioprinting and its components. We further discuss the challenges and future prospects of cardiovascular bioprinting in clinical applications.

