Artificial Organs: A Step Toward Safer Living

The worldwide shortage of available donor organs provides little to no hope for patients wishing to have a chance at new life. According to the Texas Organ Sharing Alliance, there were 79,466 patients on the U.S. National Waiting List as of January 1, 2002, with only 6,148 donors in the country that year. In response to the organ shortage, scientists have made recent advances in transplant technology with the development of two new types of organ replacement: xenotransplantation and artificial organ replacement; the latter of the two types consists of either synthetic or natural materials.…