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An exciting new technique was developed in Sweden to replace problematic tracheas (windpipes). Earlier this month, a Baltimore man went back home after receiving this operation two months ago.
The process begins with a skeleton or "scaffold" of nano-sized fibers in the shape of a Y-trachea, adjusted precisely with the help of CT scans of the neck. Stem cells are placed on the fibers, where they grow the entire structure into a viable trachea, and the whole thing is then stitched into the patient's throat after a few days, where "transcription factors" then send messages from the body to regenerate the trachea in a more differentiated fashion.
Christopher Lyles, 30, was suffering from tracheal cancer until it was considered inoperable. Thanks to his November surgery, he is now grateful for his second lease on life so he may rejoin his family and hopefully get back to work as an electrical engineer at the Department of Defense.
Dr. Paolo Macchiarini had replaced 11 tracheas since 2008. The first 10 were transplants. The 11th was on an Eritrean man, whose stem cells were recognizable bodies, and therefore did not require antibiotics. Lyles was the first American to accept this $450,000 surgery.
There is, however, some concern that the new trachea is a foreign object, and is therefore going to encounter a response from the body. However, no adverse indication is yet evident.
Similar procedures are also able to regenerate skin and bladders.
Read More About Plastic Windpipe Regenerates and Replaces Cancerous Trachea...
