Creating a modern Frankenstein

Two hundred years after Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein was published, developments in medical science from transplants and artificial limbs to 3-D printing and bionics, are bringing fiction closer to reality


TRANSPLANTS
Kidney is most commonly transplanted organ, followed by liver, heart, lung and pancreas. Skin, bone, cornea, cartilage, tendon and nerve transplants also successful

More than 40 face transplants performed since 2005. Surgeons looking at head transplant but still distant prospect


MECHANICAL ORGANS
Include pacemaker and cochlear implant. Artificial heart and kidney dialysis machine support patient until donor available
Artificial heart

Fully artificial heart, lungs and pancreas could eventually outperform natural organs


LAB-GROWN ORGANS
Patient’s own cells can be grown on biodegradable scaffold. Best suited for flat or tubular organ like skin, blood vessel, bladder, windpipe or vagina

3D printed ear scaffolds

Groundbreaking  3D bioprinting techniques could create more complex organs – such as heart, liver or womb


BIONICS
Robotic exoskeletons enable paraplegics to walk. Prosthetics replace missing limbs – advanced versions can read brain commands through electrodes on skull

Bionic hand

Artificial limbs can be programmed to make decisions on their own, using cameras and algorithms to increase strength and speed

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Lung 
Liver
Muscle
Heart
Kidney
Bionic suit





Sources: Science Magazine, Zurich Heart,
Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine, ReWalk, Newcastle University
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