Posted on 07/07/2011 1:07:52 PM PDT by Fractal Trader
urgeons in Sweden have carried out the world's first synthetic organ transplant.
Scientists in London created an artificial windpipe which was then coated in stem cells from the patient.
Crucially, the technique does not need a donor, and there is no risk of the organ being rejected. The surgeons stress a windpipe can also be made within days.
The 36-year-old cancer patient is doing well a month after the operation.
Professor Paolo Macchiarini from Spain led the pioneering surgery, which took place at the Karolinska University Hospital.
In an interview with the BBC, he said he now hopes to use the technique to treat a nine-month-old child in Korea who was born with a malformed windpipe or trachea.
Professor Macchiarini already has 10 other windpipe transplants under his belt - most notably the world's first tissue-engineered tracheal transplant in 2008 on 30-year-old Spanish woman Claudia Costillo - but all required a donor.
Indistinguishable The key to the latest technique is modelling a structure or scaffold that is an exact replica of the patient's own windpipe, removing the need for a donor organ.
To do this he enlisted the help of UK experts were given 3D scans of the 36-year-old African patient, Andemariam Teklesenbet Beyene. The geology student currently lives in Iceland where he is studying for a PhD.
Using these images, the scientists at University College London were able to craft a perfect copy of Mr Beyene's trachea and two main bronchi out of glass.
They then coated this was then flown to Sweden and soaked in a solution of stem cells taken from the patient's bone marrow.
After two days, the millions of holes in the porous windpipe had been seeded with the patient' own tissue.
(Excerpt) Read more at bbc.co.uk ...
“stem cells taken from the patient’s bone marrow”
Interesting.
Yea, but unfortunately with socialized medicine, once it’s approved, it will never be an affordable option.
Not even a need to puree fetal tissue either.
So implanted heart pace devices and artificial heart aids are not considered non-natural inside body devices???
I see the embryonic stem cells were used for this life saving procedure....
Oh, never mind.
Didn’t a Spanish surgeon give Fidel Castro a plastic bowel?
Or is that just a rumor?
Amazing.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.