"a woman Roach knows with spina bifida, whose gait was impeded by a twisted foot. The woman was seeking to have her foot surgically amputated and replaced with a prosthetic limb, when she encountered an unexpected impediment: Surgeons were reluctant to remove what they considered a healthy limb even though the patient could not walk on it. "And I thought that was interesting, the reluctance of the surgeons to remove a foot because it is an act with some finality to remove a foot,""
"Roach's book describes how advancements in gene editing and 3D printing technology might further make our anatomy "replaceable." She profiles scientists in lab at Carnegie Mellon University who used a 3D printer to create a tiny ventricle, which was used to pump the heart of a mouse. But, she adds, the Trump administration's cuts to medical research threaten to interrupt the "pipeline of innovation and discovery.""
The human body contains complex, 'gooey' components that perform essential functions daily. Hearts can continue beating for many decades, far longer than most manufactured devices. Prosthetic technology has deep historical roots, including nasal prostheses from the 1500s, and modern prosthetics can restore lost function. Elective limb removal for prosthetic replacement can provoke surgical reluctance when a limb appears medically healthy despite being nonfunctional. Advances in gene editing and 3D printing are producing biologic and mechanical replacements, exemplified by a 3D-printed tiny ventricle that pumped a mouse heart. Reductions in medical research funding risk disrupting the pipeline of innovation and patient care.
Read at www.npr.org
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