A First: Organs Tailor-Made With Body’s Own Cells

STOCKHOLM — Andemariam Beyene sat by the hospital window, the low Arctic sun on his face, and talked about the time he thought he would die.

Two and a half years ago doctors in Iceland, where Mr. Beyene was studying to be an engineer, discovered a golf-ball-size tumor growing into his windpipe. Despite surgery and radiation, it kept growing. In the spring of 2011, when Mr. Beyene came to Sweden to see another doctor, he was practically out of options. “I was almost dead,” he said. “There was suffering. A lot of suffering.”

But the doctor, Paolo Macchiarini, at the Karolinska Institute here, had a radical idea. He wanted to make Mr. Beyene a new windpipe, out of plastic and his own cells.

Implanting such a “bioartificial” organ would be a first-of-its-kind procedure for the field of regenerative medicine, which for decades has been promising a future of ready-made replacement organs — livers, kidneys, even hearts — built in the laboratory.

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/16/health/research/scientists-make-progress-in-tailor-made-organs.html?pagewanted=1

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4 Responses to A First: Organs Tailor-Made With Body’s Own Cells

  1. margotlsalas says:

    I find it very hard to believe that currently in 2012, a windpipe or a heart can be synthetically made to suit someone who is in need of one. The story of the man who was growing a tumor on his windpipe was miraculous in that science innovations has saved someone’s life. As great as this story sounds, I am very skeptical about the health related long term effects of this process. Not only is this procedure and costly, it is experimental, in which there is always room for error. I sometimes feel that technology is going a really long way in innovating things to better our lives, but it is morally devaluing human life. In years from now, what would be the value of a human being compared to a machine?

  2. huda says:

    I strongly agree with Margot. Science has save many lives however, not only is there room for error but not everyone can afford this costly surgery. Only the rich will be able to survive. Also every body is different. Not everyones body can accept change. And with the advancement in science, some people take advantage of these “experiments”. However, it is very interesting and amazing what science can do and how it can save a life. I wonder what more is science going to do for the human race?

  3. shervon says:

    It is not possible for an artificial organ to function in the same manner as the original, therefore those whose lives are extended by this treatment may not be able to do a lot of things that they use too. However, this new dynamic technology is good because the pros outweighs the cons. It can potentially extend the lives of those who are on the verge of death. I hope to see much progress in this field because it is a doctors duty to find the most effective way to act beneficently towards their patients.

  4. I find this article amazing, yet it defies the concept of human life, and also the thought of religion, which is most certainly will not get into. But overall I think this article is incredible! I have waited for the time for scientists to come to grips with the times, that one day most body organs, other than bones, such as hip replacements, will be made in laboratories! I feel like this gives us, as the human race such a better chance at surviving, and not only that but our wounded warriors, another chance at life since they already risked theirs fighting for us on the battlefield. Even though some will say that these organs or vital body parts will not respond just as the original, I do however believe that they would be a valid counterpart. For a doctor to say, “I’m sorry, there is nothing we could do.” To saying “No problem, we’ll have a new organ for your loved one” I think is quite ground breaking. On the negative side this does bring up the problem of payment, which brings into mind the movie “Repo Men” which is done in a world where people at any wealth class level can afford to buy body parts, but upon not having the money to pay these things off, they have to be repossessed, which is the gruesome part which I will not spoil for you.

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