World’s First Artificial Organ Transplant

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World’s First Artificial Organ Transplant

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Andrew Whales

Another leap in medical technology saved the life of a cancer patient with advanced science and application of stem cell technologies. For the first time, a patient has received a synthetic organ that was created in a lab with the patient's own stem cells and without using human donor tissue .

Previous lab-generated organ transplant used a segment of donor windpipe or involved tissue only, not an organ entire or organ. A laboratory in London, scientists created a trachea, which is the tube-like airway that connects at the voice box and branches into both right and left lung.

Earlier this month, doctors has successfully implanted this synthetic organ into a 36 year-old male patient with the late stages of tracheal cancer at the Karolinska University Hospital in Stockholm. The patient is doing well and is expected to be out from the hospital anytime soon .

Tracheal cancers are extremely rare, accounting for less than 1% of all cancers.

The patient had exhausted every treatment available for his condition which includes chemotherapy, radiation and surgery. His tumor had almost blocked his windpipe and has grown to a size of a golf ball, according to the doctors.

Rather than waiting for a transplant, his doctors suggested growing an organ. Scientists created a Y-shaped framework for the new organ. It was modeled after the specific shape of the patient's very own windpipe.

The form was made of polymers that had a spongy and flexible texture. Stiff rings around the tube mimicked the structure of a human trachea. It was then bathed in a solution containing the patient's stem cells.

Stem cells can divide and turn into a range of cell types, including those in organs. Stem cells from the patient were growing inside and outside, and made the form a living structure. The stem cells were given physical or chemical cues to create the desired type.

The artificial stem cell grown trachea was implanted into the patient. His body accepted the new organ, and he even had a cough reflex two days after the surgery, a good sign.

The method creating and implanting a trachea is already done 3 years ago. But the the trachea was created from a donor tissue combined with the stem cells of the recipient. The process is pretty much dependent on organ donation, which could take months or even years. Creating the synthetic trachea in the current case took only days, compared with waiting months for an organ donor.

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Tags: • surgery • chemotherapy • cancer • stem cell • medical technology • artificial organs • organ transplant •

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