Assessment #2

Research Assessment: Artificial Organs

Name: Hebah Tanveer

Date: 09-04-2018

Subject: Independent Study and Mentorship

MLA Citation:

Atkins, William A., BB, BS, MBA. "Artificial Organs." ​The Gale Encyclopedia of Nursing and

Allied Health​, edited by Jacqueline L. Longe, 4th ed., vol. 1, Gale, 2018, pp. 361-365.

Health & Wellness Resource Center​,

http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/CX3662600107/HWRC?u=j043905002&sid=HWRC

&xid=eb8b2e7e. Accessed 6 Sept. 2018.

Galeon, Dom. “Artificial Organs: We're Entering an Era Where Transplants Are Obsolete.”

Futurism​, Futurism, 4 Dec. 2017,

futurism.com/artificial-organs-entering-era-transplants-obsolete/.

Section 1: Introduction

The widely accepted definition of an artificial organ is that it is able to restore function in

an incorrectly working body part. This includes more than just internal organs; bone

replacements are included as well. What most people do not understand is that an artificial organ

must be completely self-sufficient (no battery replacements, no refilling) in order to earn the

classification as an “artificial organ.” So while dialysis machines conduct the function of the

kidneys, they are not considered artificial organs.

 There are four levels to creating an artificial organs. The first three have already been

created and are fairly “easy to make:” flat (skin, cartilage), tube (vessel, windpipe), and hollow

(stomach, bladder). The fourth level, solid organs, is what gives bioengineers the most trouble.

Organs such as the heart or kidneys require and intricate collaboration of different moving parts,

as they perform functions greater than simply covering, transporting, or secreting.

Replacing dysfunctional organs with artificial ones also pose some risks: surgical,

immunosuppressive, and malfunctional risks. However, it may be valid to overlook these risks,

because the need for organ donors increases by 10% each year, and as people live longer and

longer, the availability of these donors may eventually become nonexistent. But fear not, as

artificial organ technology is becoming more and more promising!

Section 2: My Reaction

It’s common knowledge that as more people are born, more congenital defects and

lifestyle-induced abnormalities will be discovered. Bioengineering focuses on developing

solutions to these issues, in this case, in the area of organ donation. For instance, internal

artificial hearts have been created to be used as a temporary “placeholder” until a donation is

available; the only drawback is that the fake heart causes blood clots and therefore can only be in

the patient’s body for so long. More recently, in Houston, a heart without a pulse was developed.

This artificial heart relies on continuous blood flow, and over a thousand people were given this

heart as a temporary replacement. In the future, this technology could become standard heart

transplant protocol!

While all of this progress seems very futuristic, in reality, this article was published in

2012. ​Six years ago.​ I am curious: have the potential technologies talked about in the passage
been created? If so, how common are they? In 2017, I researched a biotechnology called the Skin

Gun, invented by a German Dr. Gerlach around the same time that this article was written. This

device uses a burn patient’s own stem cells to heal the burn, regenerating the damaged tissue in

days​ instead of weeks. Has stem cell technology been furthered since this breakthrough?

Section 3: My Reflections

Artificial organ technologies are often surrounded by an aura of controversy. Some

people might consider the creation of artificial organs “playing God,” but I believe that if the

technology is not necessarily enhancing performance, just fixing what is broken, the solution

shouldn’t be too controversial. Stem cells are another area of controversy, even if they are

extracted from the patient’s own body, but they can be used to grow artificial organs in a lab.

Often times, artificial organs are made to sound like huge developments that replace

incredible parts of the body, the internal organs, but they perform other functions as well. Have

gastric reflux? Use an artificial pyloric sphincter muscle to control the opening of your lower

esophagus! Does your heart work but a certain valve doesn’t? Simply replace the valve instead

of the entire organ! Suffer from impotence? Implant a manual pump to improve blood flow!

Artificial organs can be used for seemingly every little thing.

Section 4: The Current Situation

Currently, the field of biotechnology is blossoming as new biomaterials are being

discovered and more technology is becoming sophisticated. In another article that I found as a

quick Google search, I read that heart transplants (and organ transplants in general) are becoming

obsolete due to the advances in artificial organ technology. For instance, a patch of heart cells

that can actually beat have been developed. Also, there have been recent studies in the use of pig
hearts in human organ transplants due to the similarity in anatomy. I look forward to researching

more futuristic biological solutions, particularly in the cardiovascular system. But the field of

bioengineering has no limits or preferences, and so I plan on taking this career on without any

bias.

An artificial heart, taken from ​Quora.com