Reasons
Reasons to construct and install an artificial organ, an extremely expensive process initially, which may entail many years of ongoing maintenance services not needed by a natural organ, might include:
- Life support to prevent imminent death while awaiting a transplant (e.g. artificial heart)
- Dramatic improvement of the patient's ability for self care (e.g. artificial limb)
- Improvement of the patient's ability to interact socially (e.g. cochlear implant)
- Cosmetic restoration after cancer surgery or accident
Eleni V. Antoniadou, Head of the Biosciences Department at Transplants Without Donors LLC, mentioned in her talk at the 2012 Annual Meeting of the Regenerative Medicine and Tissue Engineering Society the following: "From a humanistic standpoint, the major aim of creating artificial organs is to give an end to the human organ trafficking, a transnational organized crime, that is rising in third world countries and has become a lucrative facet of economic development by annihilating the need for real organs."
The use of any artificial organ by humans is almost always preceded by extensive experiments with animals. Initial testing in humans is frequently limited to those either already facing death, or who have exhausted every other treatment possibility. (Rarely testing may be done on healthy volunteers who are scheduled for execution pertaining to violent crimes.)
Although not typically thought of as organs, one might also consider replacement bone, and joints thereof, such as hip replacements, in this context.
Read more about this topic: Artificial Organ
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