Cardiovascular scientists predict it will possible to use 3D printers to make a whole heart from the recipients' own cells within a decade.

Stuart K Williams, executive and scientific director of the Cardiovascular Innovation Institute at the University of Louisville, said the idea for printing the heart whole from scratch was inspired by Charles Lindbergh. Lindbergh is best known for flying solo across the Atlantic, but he also helped create a glass pump that would keep the human heart alive outside the body, Newsmax Health reports.

Williams said he and his team have already bioengineered a coronary artery and printed the smallest blood vessels in the heart used in microcirculation.