MEDICAL BREAKTHROUGH: Human organ constructed and implanted
Many patients don’t survive the waiting list for a donor organ. I know, first hand, as I lost a long-time friend while he was waiting for a compatible donor heart.
This logjam is beginning to open with the medical community’s announcement that a patient received a trachea (“windpipe”) that was created with the patient’s own stem cells. (Stem cells are a versatile type of cell that can transform into many types of cells. http://1.usa.gov/ubcAp)
The trachea was constructed with an artificial “skeleton” of a spongy material which was then immersed in a solution of stem cells. The cells grew into the sponge material, creating a living organ in less than two weeks. The resulting trachea was then implanted into the patient (who was suffering from tracheal cancer). The patient’s body accepted new-formed organ as if it was the original trachea.
In theory, the same process could be used to create other, more complex organs: liver, pancreas, heart, etc. We’re still quite a ways from this level of organ development. But the medical door is now open a crack. Further progress is just a matter of time.
For more information and additional photos, take a look at a recent article at CNN http://bit.ly/qAibNI.
Image courtesy Harvard Bioscience
