British boy becomes first in the world to have stem cell transplant
63 replies, posted
[QUOTE=telegraph.co.uk]The landmark operation involved injecting the scaffold of a windpipe, taken from a dead donor, with stem cells from the boy before implanting it in his throat.
The stem cells were removed from the boy's bone marrow and were ready for use just four hours later.
The cells trigger regrowth to create a normal windpipe without any of the risks of normal transplantation such as the organ being rejected by the body.
The operation took place at Great Ormond Street Hospital, in London, on Monday and the boy is breathing by himself and able to speak normally.
It is the first time a child has received an organ transplant created with stem cells and the second time that surgeons have injected the stem cells immediately before implanting the windpipe. In a previous operation the cells were allowed to grow onto the windpipe in the laboratory for some months before the organ was implanted.
The advancement means that more hospitals will be able to use the technique and in future other organs can be replaced or regenerated in the same way.
It is hoped using stem cells will eventually replace all transplant surgery.
The boy, who has not been identified, will remain in hospital while the growth of the cells is monitored. It is expected that the windpipe will be fully formed within two weeks. In the meantime the organ is being supported by an artificial scaffold that will dissolve.
Professor Martin Birchall, head of translational regenerative medicine at University College London, said: "We believe it's a real milestone.
"It is the first time a child has received stem cell organ treatment, and it's the longest airway that has ever been replaced (seven centimetres long).
"I think the technique will allow not just highly specialised hospitals to carry out stem cell organ transplants.
"Now we need to conduct more clinical trials to demonstrate that this concept works. We'd like to move to other organs as well, particularly the larynx and oesophagus.
"Importantly we need to think about how to make regenerative medicine a key part of our health care."
The boy was born with a windpipe just one millimetre in diameter and was unable to breathe by himself. He had one operation early in life to widen the windpipe with a metal scaffold and this worked well for a year but then it pierced a major blood vessel causing massive bleeding.
Emergency surgery was carried out to fix the hole and put in a piece of preserved donor windpipe as a patch and this worked well for ten years.
But in November the metal scaffold again pierced the blood vessel and although the bleeding was brought under control, surgeons were running out of viable options to treat him.
A team of specialists from University College London, Florence, in Italy and Barcelona in Spain had conducted the first windpipe transplant using stem cells in 2008 and developed that technique further for this case.
Prof Elliott , director of the tracheal service at Great Ormond Street, said 'enormous numbers' of patients could benefit from this technique in future. In many types of surgery pieces of tissue from animals or plastic substitutes are used but that could all be replaced with the patient's own stem cells.
He said: "If we could put into anybody, in any organ, a replacement piece of tissue engineered from their own cells, it would reduce the risks of surgery. The whole field of organ repair, of all kinds of surgery, is suddenly improved."
Prof Birchall said: "From here we can now go on an build all sorts of other things. We don't think it will replace normal transplantation yet, it will be many years before it replaces conventional transplantation. I would be surprised if it happened in my professional lifetime but we are inching towards that and it is going to accelerate."[/QUOTE]
suck on that christians
Fuck yeah science.
Stem cells will be very useful in the future.
Son of a bitch.
:science:
[QUOTE=johanz;20873251]Fuck yeah science.
Stem cells will be very useful in the future.[/QUOTE]
.
incredible, though. to think an organ dies and you can just grow a new one.
Couldn't they use this on that guy that got the wrong testicle removed?
Does that mean humans can start up extracellular matrix again?
i hope one day we can grow thumbs on our feet like what monkeys have.
[quote]
It is the first time a child has received an organ transplant created with stem cells[/quote]This kind of thing repeated through the article makes me think that adults have received these kind of transplants, so the title might be misleading. Also: [quote]A team of specialists from University College London, Florence, in Italy and Barcelona in Spain had conducted the first windpipe transplant using stem cells in 2008[/quote]
[QUOTE=Leg of Doom;20873451]i hope one day we can grow thumbs on our feet like what monkeys have.[/QUOTE]
And on that day, there will be much rejoicing.
[QUOTE=Leg of Doom;20873451]i hope one day we can grow thumbs on our feet like what monkeys have.[/QUOTE]
I fear the day when furries can grow actual tails and claws.
:ohdear:
And to think, we'd have had this in 2004 if Bush hadn't been elected, nice one America.
[QUOTE=Adsone;20873676]And to think, we'd have had this in 2004 if Bush hadn't been elected, nice one America.[/QUOTE]
Have a box.
[QUOTE=Leg of Doom;20873451]i hope one day we can grow thumbs on our feet like what monkeys have.[/QUOTE]
Personally I'm looking more forward to stuff like increased brain size, heightened senses and that stuff. Maybe genetically engineering an organ to create stem cells itself and distribute them around the body as needed (that way even if you lose a finger or hand or something it could grow back).
But this is a start. Paving the way for much better medical technologies in the future.
Bravo, science! Bravo!
I'm glad we're finally using stem cells.
i agree with first poster
FUCK YOU CHRISTMAS
[QUOTE=Keeshond dog;20874325]i agree with first poster
FUCK YOU CHRISTMAS[/QUOTE]
You are so cool and rebellious.
Wait...I did?
I wondered why I woke up with a sore throat.
[QUOTE=Keeshond dog;20874325]i agree with first poster
FUCK YOU CHRISTMAS[/QUOTE]
Yeah, suck on that joyful holiday!
Lucky, British people have such charming and witty accents, they sound so much more funny in a good way.
You can never get angry at a British kid, I wish if I had a son he'd come out British (some how).
Brit:
"Daddeyyy I wet my bed"
"Aww thats alright British kid I'll have it cleaned up"
Normal:
"dad I w... wet my bed"
"YOU FUCKING ASS HOLE I'M GOING TO BEAT YOU RAAA!"
[QUOTE=Leg of Doom;20873451]i hope one day we can grow thumbs on our feet like what monkeys have.[/QUOTE]
I'm getting another cock.
[QUOTE=CabooseRvB;20874518]I'm getting another cock.[/QUOTE]
I'm getting a 9 inch, ribbed, vibrating, hydraulic piston-cock.
[QUOTE=raccoon12;20873239]suck on that christians[/QUOTE]
The controversy isn't over stem cells in general, only embryonic stem cells.
Fuck yes, maybe we're finally getting somewhere with steam cells.
[QUOTE=Dr. Freeman;20874478]Lucky, British people have such charming and witty accents, they sound so much more funny in a good way.
You can never get angry at a British kid, I wish if I had a son he'd come out British (some how).
Brit:
"Daddeyyy I wet my bed"
"Aww thats alright British kid I'll have it cleaned up"
Normal:
"dad I w... wet my bed"
"YOU FUCKING ASS HOLE I'M GOING TO BEAT YOU RAAA!"[/QUOTE]
Well done, you can stereotype.
[QUOTE=johanz;20873251]Fuck yeah science.
Stem cells will be very useful in the future.[/QUOTE]
Looking back in a hundred years they're going to be one of the huge-ass breakthroughs like the discovery of bacteria and evolution.
Why didn't they use the stem cells to give him better teeth?
I love the future =D
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