A woman in Spain has a new lease of life following a successful transplant of part of her trachea (windpipe) without the use of anti rejection drugs thanks to the use of stem cells. This is also a story of European cooperation as the stem cells were added to the trachea by scientists in Bristol who then passed it on to colleagues in Italy who used their bioreactor to fuse them in place. Finally the surgeons in Barcelona performed the operation back in June of this year and in a short time her left lung was back operating as normal.
I saw an interview with her surgeon last night who said that he had received a call from her in August at 05:30 complaining that she was short of breath; when she explained that she had been out dancing in Ibiza until that time he replied that there was nothing to worry about and he would have been feeling the same if it was him.
This could prove to be a real turning point in modern medical technology if it can be replicated in the future – and they get the funding to pursue it.
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2 comments:
I watched a report on this and found it really interesting. While the mind can wander with all of the possible applications of this, but WOW!
rt, Truly mind boggling if the do succeed in the long term.
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