Groundbreaking Stem Cell Surgery in London

12th Apr 10

Source: Family & Life

Doctors carried out groundbreaking surgery to rebuild the windpipe of a 10-year-old British boy with his own stem cells. If the procedure succeeds, they say it could bring a revolution in regenerative medicine. The operation, which lasted almost nine hours, took place at London’s Great Ormond Street Children’s Hospital last month.

Doctors injected stem cells from the boy’s bone marrow into the fibrous collagen “scaffold” of a donor trachea (windpipe). Then they implanted the organ, which had first been stripped of its own cells, into the boy.

Over the next month, doctors expect the stem cells to start transforming themselves into internal and external tracheal cells. The boy, whose identity is a secret, is reportedly doing well and breathing normally. Because they are derived from his own tissue, there is no danger of the newly grown cells triggering an immune response. In an ordinary transplant, doctors would suppress the patient’s immune system with drugs to prevent rejection of the organ.

The new procedure was a big step forward from the pioneering surgery done in Spain two years ago on 30-year-old mother of two Claudia Castillo, the first person ever to receive a transplant organ created from stem cells. She received a section of tracheal airway rebuilt from stem cells, but using a much more complex and costly process.

Prof Martin Birchall, head of translational regenerative medicine at University College London, said, “This procedure is different in a number of ways, and we believe it’s a real milestone”. The Irish Times. March 23.