Artificial Organs, Tissues, and Support Systems

When diseases or injuries result in serious dysfunction of organs, people may face a life-threatening crisis. In such cases, treatment with an artificial organ can be performed. The artificial organs are anticipated to perform functionally as substitutes for impaired or missing organs. Attempts to replace dysfunctional body parts with engineered devices have a history that is at least 3000-4000years old. Currently, not only material science, electrical and electronic engineering, mechanical engineering but also nanotechnology and tissue engineering are applied to the design of artificial organs. In this chapter, numerous artificial organs, tissues, and support systems already in wide use as well as those that still being actively researched and developed are addressed.