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Ten-year-old girl gets vein grown from her stem cells | Ten-year-old girl gets vein grown from her stem cells |
(about 17 hours later) | |
By James Gallagher Health and science reporter, BBC News | By James Gallagher Health and science reporter, BBC News |
A 10-year-old girl has had a major blood vessel in her body replaced with one grown with her own stem cells, Swedish doctors report. | A 10-year-old girl has had a major blood vessel in her body replaced with one grown with her own stem cells, Swedish doctors report. |
She had poor blood flow between her intestines and liver. | She had poor blood flow between her intestines and liver. |
A vein was taken from a dead man, stripped of its own cells and then bathed in stem cells from the girl, according to a study published in the Lancet. | A vein was taken from a dead man, stripped of its own cells and then bathed in stem cells from the girl, according to a study published in the Lancet. |
Surgeons said there was a "striking" improvement in her quality of life. | Surgeons said there was a "striking" improvement in her quality of life. |
This is the latest in a series of body parts grown, or engineered, to match the tissue of the patient. | |
Last year, scientists created a synthetic windpipe and then coated it with a patient's stem cells. | Last year, scientists created a synthetic windpipe and then coated it with a patient's stem cells. |
Home-grown | Home-grown |
A blockage in the major blood vessel linking the intestines and the liver can cause serious health problems including internal bleeding and even death. | A blockage in the major blood vessel linking the intestines and the liver can cause serious health problems including internal bleeding and even death. |
In this case, other options such as using artificial grafts to bypass the blockage, had failed. | In this case, other options such as using artificial grafts to bypass the blockage, had failed. |
Doctors at the University of Gothenburg and Shalgrenska University Hospital tried to make a vein out of the patient's own cells. | Doctors at the University of Gothenburg and Shalgrenska University Hospital tried to make a vein out of the patient's own cells. |
It used a process known as "decellularisation". | It used a process known as "decellularisation". |
It starts with a donor vein which is then effectively put through a washing machine in which repeated cycles of enzymes and detergents break down and wash away the person's cells. | It starts with a donor vein which is then effectively put through a washing machine in which repeated cycles of enzymes and detergents break down and wash away the person's cells. |
It leaves behind a scaffold. This is then bathed in stem cells from the 10-year-old's bone marrow. The end product is a vein made from the girl's own cells. | It leaves behind a scaffold. This is then bathed in stem cells from the 10-year-old's bone marrow. The end product is a vein made from the girl's own cells. |
The doctors said: "The new stem-cell derived graft resulted not only in good blood flow rates, but also in strikingly improved quality of life for the patient." | The doctors said: "The new stem-cell derived graft resulted not only in good blood flow rates, but also in strikingly improved quality of life for the patient." |
Profs Martin Birchall and George Hamilton, from University College London, said: "The young girl was spared the trauma of having veins harvested from the deep neck or leg with the associated risk of lower limb disorders." | Profs Martin Birchall and George Hamilton, from University College London, said: "The young girl was spared the trauma of having veins harvested from the deep neck or leg with the associated risk of lower limb disorders." |
They said this one-off procedure needed "to be converted into full clinical trials... if regenerative medicine solutions are to become widely used". | They said this one-off procedure needed "to be converted into full clinical trials... if regenerative medicine solutions are to become widely used". |
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