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Life-Saving Technology

3 The operation was for research, to prove the efficacy of a new
invention—blood vessels made on a 3D printer. The operation

proved that this new invention worked just as well as natural
arteries. Heart disease in humans is a major killer. If new blood
vessels could be easily and cheaply printed, hospitals would not

have to rely on hard-to-get and expensive live transplants.
4 Creating body parts with machines has long been a human
fantasy. Today, thanks to 3D printing, researchers are working
on ways to replicate blood vessels, skin, and other body parts An artificial organ being
printed by a 3D printer
that could revolutionize our ability to perform transplants and
save lives.

5 Dr. Y. James Kang, the head researcher on this project at
Sichuan University, presented his research on the monkeys to a

packed house at a press conference. Dr. Kang and his group had
launched the world’s first 3D blood vessel bio-printer in 2015,
and this was their first major success.

6 Dr. Kang explained how, once implanted, the 3D-printed
blood vessels were integrated into the monkeys’ bodies. After a

month, no one could detect the difference between the parts of
the vessel that were “original” and the part that was implanted.

A 3D-printed model of a blood vessel

efficacy The efficacy of something is its effectiveness and ability to do what it should.
replicate If you replicate something, you do or make it in the exact same way as
the original.
integrated If you have integrated one thing with another, the two have been closely
linked or form part of the same system.

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