First Successful Transplant of Trachea Made of Stem Cells

Thirty-six-year-old Andemariam Beyene, originally from Eritrea, is a PhD student studying in Iceland.

Beyene needed a new trachea when a cancerous tumor near his windpipe grew to be almost two-and-a-half inches wide.

The tumor restricted his breathing and he didn’t respond to any treatments.

In 2009, he had a surgery to remove the cancerous tumor, but to no avail.

[Andamariam Beyene, Patient]:

“When I am sleeping I have to be good, straight. If I am bending the small part would be closed.“

And without a trachea donor, his options were limited. Beyene’s windpipe was expected to collapse within weeks of the surgery.

[Andamariam Beyene, Patient]:

„But this operation… They told me that this is the first in its kind. This is a synthetic organ. It has never been tried in a human being. I was scared. I was about to refuse.“

Similar surgeries have used a trachea from a donor with stem cells of the patient grafted onto it.

This is the first time that a whole organ grown from stem cells has been successfully used in a human being.

[David Green, President of Harvard Bioscience]:

„So it’s really part of him today. It’s his tissue. It’s his cells, and those have differentiated from the [original] bone-marrow cells to become all the different cell-types that make up the trachea. So it really is a living, breathing organ at this point.“

Spanish surgeon Dr. Macchiarini collaborated with American and British scientists to create the synthetic windpipe.

Scientists at the University College of London created a replica of the windpipe using 3-D scans.

The fake trachea was then flown to Sweden where it was seeded and put in a “bioreactor” from Harvard Bioscience.

It was rinsed in stem cells, which soon transformed the plastic trachea into a living, functioning organ.

After a 12-hour surgery, the trachea was successfully implanted in Beyene’s chest.

From that point on, only time could tell his fate.

Over a month later, Beyene is not only breathing but on the road to recovery.

He is soon to be discharged from the hospital and heading home to his family.

Foto: NTD