What Are Bioartificial Organs?
Artificial organs are mechanical devices and electronic devices that partially or completely replace the functions of human natural organs by studying and simulating the structure and function of human organs, using artificial materials and electronic technologies. When human organ damage cannot be treated by conventional methods, artificially manufactured organs are used to compensate or repair or assist replacement or partial replacement of the damaged natural organs, thereby achieving the purpose of temporarily or permanently restoring the main functions of some organs of the body. Although artificial organs can only mimic part of the functions of the replaced organs, the most important functions that are usually necessary to sustain life do not yet have all the natural functions and life phenomena of the organs of the original organism, such as the energy source of the organ and its own metabolism. But it has broadened the way of disease treatment, increased the chance of patients being rescued, and benefited more and more patients. With the rapid development of biomedical engineering technology, except for the human brain, which has no artificial brain replacement, almost all other organs are undergoing artificial simulation research, experiment and use.
- Chinese name
- Artificial organ
- Foreign name
- Artificial Organ
- Management category
- Class III
- Category Name
- Implantable artificial organ, contact artificial organ
- Artificial organs are mechanical devices and electronic devices that partially or completely replace the functions of human natural organs by studying and simulating the structure and function of human organs, using artificial materials and electronic technologies. When human organ damage cannot be treated by conventional methods, artificially manufactured organs are used to compensate or repair or assist replacement or partial replacement of the damaged natural organs, thereby achieving the purpose of temporarily or permanently restoring the main functions of some organs of the body. Although artificial organs can only mimic part of the functions of the replaced organs, the most important functions that are usually necessary to sustain life do not yet have all the natural functions and life phenomena of the organs of the original organism, such as the energy source of the organ and its own metabolism. But it has broadened the way of disease treatment, increased the chance of patients being rescued, and benefited more and more patients. With the rapid development of biomedical engineering technology, except for the human brain, which has no artificial brain replacement, almost all other organs are undergoing artificial simulation research, experiment and use.
Artificial organ classification
- Artificial organs can usually be classified from several aspects of function, principle, and usage, as shown in Table 1.
- Table 1 Classification of human organs
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Common artificial organs
1. Artificial organ 1. denture
- Dentures are often referred to as "dentures". Just as people call "prosthetic legs" and "prosthetic limbs" "prosthetic limbs", "dentures" mean teeth that fulfill their "duties" for humans. Helps the elderly or young people with injured teeth to restore chewing function and aesthetic purpose. There are two types of dentures: removable and fixed. Fixed dentures (commonly known as "fixed dentures") cannot be taken and worn by patients themselves, while removable dentures (commonly known as "movable dentures") can be easily taken and worn by patients.
- Denture
2. Artificial organs 2. Prosthetic milk
- Also called artificial breast, fake breast. It is mainly used for breast cancer patients who have undergone resection to restore female beauty. The most commonly used material is medical silicone.
- Prosthetic milk
3. Artificial organs 3. artificial limbs
- Prosthetics refer to engineering techniques and methods. They are specially designed and manufactured to compensate for the limbs of amputees or patients with incompletely damaged limbs. They are also called "prosthetic limbs." Its main function is to replace part of the function of the limb and enable the amputee to restore a certain degree of self-care and work ability. It is suitable for amputees due to illness or injury. It is usually divided into upper limb prosthesis and lower limb prosthesis according to the amputation site.
- Prosthesis
4. Artificial organ 4. artificial joint
- Artificial joints are joint prostheses based on the physiological characteristics of joints using biological materials. They can be replaced by surgical joints to replace the damaged joints. Common are the hip and knee joints.
- Artificial joint
5. Artificial organs 5. Hearing aids
- Hearing aids are sound amplification devices designed to help people with hearing impairments. The sound signals are converted into electrical signals by a microphone, amplified by an amplifier, and then the electrical signals are reduced to sound signals by the receiver and transmitted to the human ear. There are several common types of hearing aids, such as cassette hearing aids, behind-the-ear hearing aids, in-ear hearing aids, and ear canal hearing aids.
- Hearing aid
6. Artificial organ 6. cochlear implant
- Cochlear implant is an electronic device that converts sound into a certain coded electrical signal through an in vitro speech processor and directly excites the auditory nerve through an electrode system implanted in the body to restore or reconstruct the hearing function of the deaf. The body is composed of two parts.
- Cochlear implant
7. Artificial organ 7. artificial larynx
- Artificial larynx is also called speaker, which is a kind of artificially manufactured device that plays the role of sound source and vibration to emit human-like sound. When the larynx is excised and loses its ability to speak, it can be used as a tool to assist in speaking. There are three main types of artificial larynx: mechanical artificial larynx, electronic artificial larynx and implanted artificial larynx.
- Artificial larynx
8. Artificial organ 8. artificial cornea
- Keratopathy is the second leading cause of blindness after cataracts. Although 80% of patients with corneal disease can get rid of blindness through corneal transplantation, traditional corneal transplantation has two major disadvantages: insufficient corneal donors and low success rate, which restricts the rehabilitation of patients with corneal disease. The appearance and application of artificial cornea has brought light and hope to blind corneal patients. Artificial cornea is a special device that uses heterogeneous forming materials to replace opaque cornea to improve the patient's vision. It removes corneal transplantation from the problems of lack of donors and low success rate of transplantation. Chinese scientists have developed the world's first high-tech artificial corneal product that has completed clinical trials. This product is independently developed by Chinese scientists and has complete independent intellectual property rights.
- Artificial cornea
9. Artificial organ 9. artificial heart
- When the human heart partially or completely loses function due to disease and cannot maintain normal circulation throughout the body, mechanical devices made of artificial materials can be transplanted to temporarily or permanently partially or completely replace the function of the heart and promote blood circulation. Such a device is Artificial heart.
- Artificial heart
10. Artificial organ 10. artificial valve
- Prosthetic valve is an artificial organ that can be implanted in the heart instead of heart valves (aortic valve, tricuspid valve, mitral valve), can make blood flow in one direction, and has the function of a natural heart valve. When the heart valve disease is severe and cannot be restored or improved by valve separation surgery or repair surgery, artificial heart valve replacement can be used for repair. Mainly suitable for patients with rheumatic heart disease, congenital heart disease, Marfan syndrome and other patients.
- Prosthetic valve
11. Artificial organs 11. artificial blood vessels
- Artificial blood vessels are artificial substitutes made of synthetic materials to repair and replace diseased blood vessels, also known as artificial blood vessels. It is mainly used in clinical practice to transplant the diseased vascular segment directly to the site of vascular loss after surgical removal. In some cases, it can also retain the diseased blood vessel to re-establish a new bypass blood flow channel with artificial blood vessels.
- Artificial blood vessel
12. Artificial organ 12. artificial kidney
- Artificial kidney is a device that replaces kidney function. It is mainly used to treat renal failure and uremia. It draws blood out of the body using dialysis, filtration, adsorption, membrane separation and other principles to eliminate excess nitrogenous compounds, metabolism products or excess drugs in the body, adjust the electrolyte balance, and then lead the purified blood back into the body.
- Artificial kidney
13. Artificial organ 13. artificial urethra
- Artificial urethra is an implanted artificial organ that can be implanted in patients to improve urinary incontinence and restore voluntary urination. It uses a special urethral cuff to wrap around the urethra, and the water storage sac and the control pump control the inflation and deflation of the urethral cuff to achieve the purpose of urinary control and urination.
- Artificial urethra
14. Artificial organ 14. artificial vertebra
- Replace normal vertebral body after normal vertebral body lesions to maintain spine stability, mainly used for spinal tumors, tuberculosis, fractures and other diseases. There are many types of artificial vertebrae, which can be divided into two types: fusion type and movable type. It is mainly made of a variety of materials such as metals, ceramics, biological materials and polymer composite materials.
- Artificial vertebra
15. Artificial organs 15. artificial jaws
- Because of various diseases or external injuries caused by jaw defects, the implantation of artificial jaws can restore the patient's face shape and improve dysfunction such as occlusion, chewing, swallowing, and pronunciation. Artificial jaws are mainly divided into two types: maxilla and mandible.
- Artificial jaw
16. Artificial organs 16. Penile prosthesis
- Penile prosthesis is suitable for organic impotence, such as trauma, pelvic surgery injury and genital nerve or blood vessel, leading to loss of erectile function and a small number of refractory functional impotence after comprehensive treatment fails. There are three types of penile prostheses: rigid, semi-rigid, and inflatable.
- Penile prosthesis
17. Artificial organs 17. artificial skin
- Artificial (made) skin is a substitute for artificially developed skin in vitro using the principles and methods of engineering and cell biology. According to the composition, it can be divided into simple artificial dermis and active compound skin with epidermal cell layer. Different methods of combining damaged skin can be divided into temporary replacement artificial skin and permanent artificial skin. Because artificial skin is highly similar to human skin, it can be used to repair and replace defective skin tissue, especially in the treatment of burns and scalds. The "wall" phenomenon, and the compatibility with the human body is less prone to immune rejection, so it has the special effect of reducing patient pain and leaving no scar after healing. Because artificial skin has similar air permeability as human skin, during the skin grafting process, the wound can be protected from infection, promote the growth of connective tissue, and prevent skin festering.