As per an article in the British medical journal The Lancet, doctors from four European universities have successfully completed the first ever transplant of a human windpipe from the patient’s own stem cells. The transplantation has been carried out in such a careful manner that the new formed organ is not rejected by the patient’s immune system.
The patient Claudia Costillo had an acute shortage of breath due to a failing airway after a severe attack of tuberculosis. The stem cell surgery was performed in June in Barcelona, Spain after weeks of tedious preparation done at the universities of Barcelona (Spain), Bristol (England), Padua and Milan (Italy).
The surgery has indeed heralded a new era in the field of medicine.
