Stem cells used in trachea transplant

BARCELONA, Spain, Nov. 19 (UPI) -- The first successful human windpipe transplant using the patient's stem cells was completed in Spain, physicians at four European universities announced.

One physician said the procedure's success indicated "we are on the verge of a new age in surgical care," The New York Times reported on its Web site Wednesday.

Physicians at universities in Spain, England and Italy helped in preparing the donor trachea with the adult patient's stem cells before the June operation in Barcelona, the Times said. The operation was necessary to help alleviate the patient's severe shortness of breath following tuberculosis.

Doctors and scientists stripped the trachea from an anonymous donor of all the donor's cells then added the patient's stem cells before the transplant, the physicians said in their article in the journal The Lancet.

Martin Birchall, a professor at Bristol University in Britain, said the transplant showed "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."

University of Barcelona's Paolo Macchiarini, who performed the operation, said he was excited by the results.

"Just four days after transplantation the graft was almost indistinguishable from adjacent normal bronchi," Macchiarini said.