Creating new organs for transplantation?

[Government$]

Is there planned research that tries to create new organ for transplantation? So when someone needs a new organ e.g. kidney, instead of finding a donor, scientists could create an organ form stem cells perhaps. Is this even psychically possible?

Reason i ask this question is that i watched on TV about two months ago, a 22 year old girl getting a new heart. Transplantation was success but follow up costs are around 20,000€ which is huge amount of money, considering that average pay where i live is around 4800€. Besides that life expectancy for people with heart transplant is not so great, about 10 years or so. That is probably because body is trying to destroy foreign organ, but if doctors could somehow create organ from stem cells maybe patients could go back to being normal or close to normal, with higher life expectancy.

Edit: I wanted to post this in medical sciences forum, but accidental i posted it in biology forum.

 

[mfb]

Is this even psychically possible?

Physically?
There is no fundamental reason why it should be impossible.

There are attempts to do this, but they will need a lot of time until the first human gets a fully functional, lab-grown organ.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artificial_organ
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artificial_skin <- this is quite advanced

 

[arildno]

Personally, I think the future lies in synthetic substitutes, rather than real, new organs.
To have a fully functional metal leg ought to be cheaper (and why should we have to grow all those hair on our new walking device??

 

[Evo]

I have a number of threads about this, since I am fascinated with this area of research.

Here is an article to get you started, I haven't checked for updates recently. We have a mentor, Ryan, and a few members that are very knowledgeable in this area.

http://singularityhub.com/2010/07/2...video/#13682144328081&15487::resize_frame|0-0

 

[LudusRex]

I can say that there is indeed ongoing research in the field of creating new organs for transplantation. This is known as regenerative medicine, and it involves using stem cells, tissue engineering, and other techniques to create functional organs that can be transplanted into patients.

One major advantage of this approach is that it eliminates the need for finding a donor, which can be a challenging and time-consuming process. It also reduces the risk of organ rejection, as the organs are created using the patient's own cells.

However, creating new organs from stem cells is a complex and challenging task. While there have been some successes, such as the creation of lab-grown organs like bladders and tracheas, creating more complex organs like hearts and kidneys is still a long way off.

The success of organ transplantation also depends on many factors, including the health of the patient and the quality of the donated organ. While there may be some challenges with long-term success and high costs, the benefits of organ transplantation still outweigh these challenges for many patients.

In terms of using stem cells to create organs, there are still many technical and ethical considerations that need to be addressed. But as technology and research continue to advance, it is possible that one day we may be able to create fully functional organs for transplantation.