Adult Stem Cells Do It Again!

Okay, so I'm really tired of hearing about how great it would be to use embryonic stem cells to help people. So far, the only real help has come from adult stem cells. Perhaps, maybe something came of umbilical cord stem cells, but that's a big "maybe". Even so, those two methods don't interfere with life. Not even to save one, despite what all the pro-choice activists would have you believe.

So, for all of you who don't support adult stem cell research because you continue to insist that embryonic can be the only way, here is an article for you:

Medical Milestone: No Organ Rejection After Woman Receives Windpipe "Grown to Order"

Teresa Neumann (November 20, 2008)

"This is just the beginning. I think it will completely transform the way we think about surgery. In 20 years' time the commonest surgical operations will be regenerative procedures to replace organs and tissues damaged by disease with autologous [self-grown] tissues and organs from the laboratory. We are on the verge of a new age in surgical care."

(Barcelona, Spain)—Claudia Castillo, a 30-year-old Spanish mother of two, has made medical history by becoming the first patient to receive a whole organ transplant grown using her own cells. Not only that, but she didn't need any immunosuppressant drugs to battle organ rejection. A report in the Independence U.K. states Castillo underwent the operation to replace her windpipe last June after tuberculosis had left her with a collapsed lung.

According to the report, doctors used a donor trachea and Castillo's own stem cells to grow the organ, and four months later she is now able to climb two flights of stairs, go dancing and look after her children—activities that had reportedly been impossible before the surgery. (Graphic: Telegraph UK)

At a press conference in London this week to officially announce the results, Professor Martin Birchall, a surgeon who worked on the case, said, "This is just the beginning. I think it will completely transform the way we think about surgery. In 20 years' time the commonest surgical operations will be regenerative procedures to replace organs and tissues damaged by disease with autologous [self-grown] tissues and organs from the laboratory. We are on the verge of a new age in surgical care."

Professor Paolo Macchiarini said: "Claudia was unable to play with her children, work or perform her normal social duties. Now she is able to do that [after the transplant]. It was and is the most beautiful gift we can perform in our career."

Source: Jeremy Laurance - The Independent, UK