Fr. George
formerly "Cleveland"
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« on: November 19, 2008, 10:54:11 AM » |
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Windpipe transplant breakthrough By Michelle Roberts Health reporter, BBC News http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/7735696.stmSurgeons in Spain have carried out the world's first tissue-engineered whole organ transplant - using a windpipe made with the patient's own stem cells. The groundbreaking technology also means for the first time tissue transplants can be carried out without the need for anti-rejection drugs. Five months on the patient, 30-year-old mother-of-two Claudia Castillo, is in perfect health, The Lancet reports. She needed the transplant to save a lung after contracting tuberculosis. The disease had damaged her airways. Scientists from Bristol helped grow the cells for the transplant and the European team believes such tailor-made organs could become the norm. To make the new airway, the doctors took a donor windpipe, or trachea, from a patient who had recently died. CT of the patient's lungs before A pre-surgery CT - the arrow showing the windpipe narrowing Then they used strong chemicals and enzymes to wash away all of the cells from the donor trachea, leaving only a tissue scaffold made of the fibrous protein collagen. This gave them a structure to repopulate with cells from Ms Castillo herself, which could then be used in an operation to repair her damaged left bronchus - a branch of the windpipe. (Click the link above for the rest of the article) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Amazing stuff - and it used adult stem-cells (bonus for those of us who don't like embryonic stem-cell research). |
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"The man who doesn't read good books has no advantage over the one who can't read them." Mark Twain
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Ordained on 17 & 18-Oct 2009. Please forgive me if earlier posts are poorly worded or incorrect in any way.
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EofK
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« Reply #1 on: November 19, 2008, 11:07:29 AM » |
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Wow, that's incredible!
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Human beings, who are almost unique in having the ability to learn from the experience of others, are also remarkable for their apparent disinclination to do so. -- Douglas Adams
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ytterbiumanalyst
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« Reply #2 on: November 19, 2008, 12:58:17 PM » |
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Awesome. This could help eliminate the waiting lists for transplants.
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"It is remarkable that what we call the world...in what professes to be true...will allow in one man no blemishes, and in another no virtue."--Charles Dickens
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EofK
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« Reply #3 on: November 19, 2008, 12:59:49 PM » |
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Sort of, anyway. The article mentioned that a donor windpipe was needed as a sort of template, though I don't think they said it needed to match blood types and all since it was stripped bare for the stem cells to grow.
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Human beings, who are almost unique in having the ability to learn from the experience of others, are also remarkable for their apparent disinclination to do so. -- Douglas Adams
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ytterbiumanalyst
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« Reply #4 on: November 19, 2008, 01:08:21 PM » |
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Sort of, anyway. The article mentioned that a donor windpipe was needed as a sort of template, though I don't think they said it needed to match blood types and all since it was stripped bare for the stem cells to grow.
Right, but people die all the time. If we didn't need to worry about rejection, we could really use any part from anyone to grow a new one. |
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"It is remarkable that what we call the world...in what professes to be true...will allow in one man no blemishes, and in another no virtue."--Charles Dickens
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EofK
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« Reply #5 on: November 19, 2008, 01:16:24 PM » |
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True, as long as people are still willing to be organ donors.
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Human beings, who are almost unique in having the ability to learn from the experience of others, are also remarkable for their apparent disinclination to do so. -- Douglas Adams
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Fr. George
formerly "Cleveland"
Administrator
Domestikos tou thematos
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Faith: Orthodox (Catholic) Christian
Jurisdiction: GOA - Metropolis of Pittsburgh
Posts: 19,013
May the Lord bless you and keep you always!
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« Reply #6 on: November 19, 2008, 01:51:35 PM » |
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Sort of, anyway. The article mentioned that a donor windpipe was needed as a sort of template, though I don't think they said it needed to match blood types and all since it was stripped bare for the stem cells to grow. You're correct - it didn't need to match, since it was gutted except for the "skeletal structure" of the windpipe (empty cells and no blood). Then the stem cells developed within the existing structure, taking on the characteristics and functions of the windpipe. I think that this could lead to another increase in donor-ship, especially if people understand that there would now be more useful organs than ever before. |
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"The man who doesn't read good books has no advantage over the one who can't read them." Mark Twain
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Ordained on 17 & 18-Oct 2009. Please forgive me if earlier posts are poorly worded or incorrect in any way.
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ytterbiumanalyst
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« Reply #7 on: November 19, 2008, 02:56:59 PM » |
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True, as long as people are still willing to be organ donors.
Well, yes, of course. |
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"It is remarkable that what we call the world...in what professes to be true...will allow in one man no blemishes, and in another no virtue."--Charles Dickens
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antiderivative
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« Reply #8 on: November 19, 2008, 05:38:29 PM » |
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So could this eliminate the controversy of stem cells by no longer requiring aborted fetuses?
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Fr. George
formerly "Cleveland"
Administrator
Domestikos tou thematos
Offline
Faith: Orthodox (Catholic) Christian
Jurisdiction: GOA - Metropolis of Pittsburgh
Posts: 19,013
May the Lord bless you and keep you always!
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« Reply #9 on: November 19, 2008, 05:40:09 PM » |
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So could this eliminate the controversy of stem cells by no longer requiring aborted fetuses?
I wish. Alas, I don't think it will... There is more potential for "delicate" organs (i.e. the heart) from embryonic stem-cells than from adult stem cells. |
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"The man who doesn't read good books has no advantage over the one who can't read them." Mark Twain
---------------------
Ordained on 17 & 18-Oct 2009. Please forgive me if earlier posts are poorly worded or incorrect in any way.
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Riddikulus
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« Reply #10 on: November 20, 2008, 12:56:14 AM » |
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That's amazing. I have heard that people here in Australia are being given the option of having their baby's placenta kept for future needs.
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I believe in One God, maker of heaven and earth and of all things visible and invisible.
Nothing in biology makes sense except in the light of evolution.
Theodosius Dobzhansky, Russian Orthodox Christian (1900-1975)
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ialmisry
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« Reply #11 on: November 20, 2008, 02:34:22 AM » |
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So could this eliminate the controversy of stem cells by no longer requiring aborted fetuses?
I wish. Alas, I don't think it will... There is more potential for "delicate" organs (i.e. the heart) from embryonic stem-cells than from adult stem cells. All this "potential" talk. Adult stem cells have produced at least 70 treatments in hundreds of thousands of cases. Embryonic stem-cells have yet to produce one treatment in one case. |
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Question a friend, perhaps he did not do it; but if he did anything so that he may do it no more.
A hasty quarrel kindles fire,
and urgent strife sheds blood.
If you blow on a spark, it will glow;
if you spit on it, it will be put out;
and both come out of your mouth
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ytterbiumanalyst
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« Reply #12 on: November 20, 2008, 08:26:00 AM » |
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^ Please, let's not discuss the embryonic stem-cell controversy here. We've already discussed it, and discussed it, and discussed it, and discussed it, and discussed it, and discussed it, and discussed it, and you get the idea. Let's leave this thread for a discussion of a medical breakthrough that has no controversy whatsoever.
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"It is remarkable that what we call the world...in what professes to be true...will allow in one man no blemishes, and in another no virtue."--Charles Dickens
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minasoliman
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« Reply #13 on: November 20, 2008, 01:13:35 PM » |
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Very promising stuff indeed. Does anyone have any access to this article: http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/121501537/abstractThis seems to explain the history of how we arrived at stem cell production from differentiated cells. |
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Vain existence can never exist, for \\\"unless the LORD builds the house, the builders labor in vain.\\\" (Psalm 127)
If the faith is unchanged and rock solid, then the gates of Hades never prevailed in the end.
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Starlight
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« Reply #14 on: November 21, 2008, 12:53:14 AM » |
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Excellent accomplishments. Incredible!
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