Breathing easy... Young mother saved by first transplant of a windpipe engineered from her own stem cells
Last updated 11/20/2008 1:17:39 PM
Courtesy of Hospital Clinic of Barcelona
The life of a young mother who was suffering from a failing airway has been saved in groundbreaking transplant surgery.
Claudia Castillo received a new windpipe, engineered from her own stem cells, in the first transplant of its kind. The bioengineered trachea immediately provided the Claudia with a normally functioning airway.
Surgeons say it provides new evidence that adult stem cells, combined with biologically compatible materials, can offer genuine solutions to serious illnesses.
The pan-European team from the universities of Barcelona, Bristol, Padua and Milan also says the successful outcome shows it is possible to produce a tissue-engineered airway that permits normal breathing and is free from the risks of rejection seen with conventional transplanted organs.
Mother-of-two Claudia has not developed antibodies to her graft and lung function tests performed two months after the operation were all at the better end of the normal range for a young woman.
The loss of a normal airway is devastating, but previous attempts to replace large airways have met serious problems.
Thirty-year-old Claudia suffered from a collapsed airway following a severe case of TB and was hospitalised with acute shortness of breath.
It made her unable to carry out simple domestic duties or care for her children. The only conventional option remaining was a major operation to remove her left lung which carries a risk of complications and a high mortality rate.
Based on successful laboratory work previously performed by the team, and given the urgency of the situation, it was proposed that the lower trachea and the tube to the patient's left lung should be replaced with a bioengineered airway.
A seven-centimetre tracheal segment was donated by a 51-year-old transplant donor who had who had died of cerebral haemorrhage.
Using a new technique developed in Padua University, the trachea was decellularised over a six-week period so that no donor cells remained. Stem cells were obtained from the recipient's own bone marrow.
Martin Birchall, Professor of Surgery at the University of Bristol, added: "Surgeons can now start to see and understand the very real potential for adult stem cells and tissue engineering to radically improve their ability to treat patients with serious diseases. We believe this success has proved that we are on the verge of a new age in surgical care."
Claudia had no complications from the operation and was discharged from hospital on the tenth post-operative day. She has remained well since and has a normal quality of life. She is able to care for her children, walk up two flights of stairs and occasionally go out dancing.