RegenerativeMedicine
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Someday, every piece of a person will be replaceable
In the past half decade, medical science has made tremendous advances in reproductive organ transplant techniques. In the span of just four years, we've seen the first successful penile transplant, the first child born from a transplanted uterus, and as of Monday, the world's first full male genital transplant surgery. During the 14 hour marathon operation, a team of doctors from Johns Hopkins University grafted the penis and scrotum from a donor cadaver onto a US military member who had had his own genitals destroyed during his service in Afghanistan.
Laboratory-grown vaginas offer help for girls born with rare genetic condition
We've seen all kinds of regenerative medicine transplants over the past few years, including windpipes and the larynx. Now, a research team at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center in North Carolina has reported that it implanted laboratory-grown vaginas in patients born with Mayer-Rokitansky-Küster-Hauser (MRKH) syndrome: a rare genetic disorder that results in the vagina and uterus being underdeveloped or missing entirely.
Regenerative medicine pioneer continues changing lives with first successful laryngotracheal implants
Dr. Paolo Macchiarini is no stranger to world firsts, and less than a year after performing a synthetic windpipe transplant, the Karolinska Institute Professor has coordinated no less than two successful transplants of synthetic sections of larynx. Amazingly, both patients were able to breathe and talk normally straight after surgery, the basic functions we take for granted that they either struggled with or were simply unable to do before. The implants consisted of personally designed synthetic scaffolds coated with the candidates' own stem cells, so there's neither the chance of rejection nor the burden of life-long immunosuppressant therapy. Despite the amazing feat, Dr. Macchiarini ain't done yet, claiming this is the first of many steps towards building a synthetic, complete larynx -- voice box and all. Jump past the break for the official PR issued by Harvard Bioscience, the company responsible for growing what's in that tub.
