Successful Stem-Cell Windpipe Transplant
Doctors in Sweden have successfully built an artificial trachea using stem cells and transplanted it into a patient. The man had been suffering tracheal cancer; the surgery will allow the 36-year-old Icelander to live, speak and breathe without needing anti-rejection drugs.
Stem cells were first used to repair windpipe tissue in 2008, but that procedure involved combining the patient's stem cells with a donor organ. This time the cells were cultured on an artificial mold and grew into a new windpipe that matched his original one.
Because the transplant used the patient's on cellular material, there was no chance of rejection. In most transplants, the immune system treats the transplanted organ as an invader, and will attack it if the immune response is not suppressed. However, this suppression leaves the patient vulnerable to other illnesses, even ones atypical in healthy adults. The stem-cell transplant recipient will not need these drugs.
The patient is expected to make a complete recovery and enjoy a normal life expectancy.