The world’s first organ transplant has carried out by surgeons in Sweden. The researchers from London created a synthetic trachea or windpipe that was then coated in stem cells from the patient. Significantly, the technique does not need a donor and there is no risk of the organ being rejected.
The thirty-six old cancer patient is doing well a month after the surgery. The key aspect of the latest technique is modelling a structure or scaffold that is an exact copy of the patient’s own windpipe, taking away the need for a donor organ.
The ground-breaking surgery that came to pass at the Karolinska University Hospital was led by Professor Paolo Macchiarini from Italy. He already had ten windpipe transplants under his belt but all those transplants required a donor. However, in this pioneering surgery the need for donor organ is removed.
For doing this Prof Macchiarini enlisted the help Professor Alexander Seifalian, from University College London, to guide the process, 3D scan images were obtained of the thirty-six year-old African patient, Andemariam Teklesenbet Beyene, damaged trachea. These were used to craft a perfect copy of trachea and two main bronchi out of glass.
The scaffold was taken to Sweden, where soaked in a solution of stem cells taken from the patient’s bone marrow. The prepared trachea was then placed in a bioreactor, a device giving the accurate environment for growth. After just two days the stem cells had grown into tracheal cells ready for transplantation.
As the organ was constructed from cells originating from the patient, there is no risk of it being rejected by the immune system. This fragile structure used by Dr Alex Seifalian and his team to create a replacement for the patient, whose own windpipe was devastated by an inoperable tumour.
In spite of aggressive chemotherapy and radiotherapy, the cancer had grown to the size of a golf ball and was blocking his breathing. Without a transplant the patient would have died. During a twelve-hour operation Professor Macchiarini removed all of the tumour and the diseased windpipe and replaced it with the tailor-made replica.
The bone marrow cells and lining cells were taken from nose of the patent, which were also implanted during the surgery. These are able to divide and grow, turning the inert windpipe scaffold into an organ indistinguishable from a normal healthy one. Significantly, patient’s body will accept it as its own.
Professor Macchiarini said this was the real breakthrough. Thanks to nanotechnology, this new branch of regenerative medicine. They are now able to produce a custom-made windpipe within two days or one week. This is a synthetic windpipe. The beauty of this is you can have it immediately. Many other organs could be repaired or replaced in similar manner.