Doctors replaced a major blood vessel in a 10-year-old Swedish girl with one from a dead man and regenerated it with her stem cells, a report published in the Lancet on Wednesday, June 14 said.
Prior to the surgery, the young girl had poor blood flow between her liver and intestines. Afterward, surgeons reported a "striking" improvement in her quality of life.
"Tissue-engineered vein segments could be a therapeutic option in cases of venous insufficiency, obstructed veins, or inadequate autologous veins," suggested the Swedish group who performed the operation.
Edward Y. Woo, director of the vascular laboratory at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, told ABC News the feat bodes well for the future of bypass sugary.
"One of the major limitations of bypass surgery anywhere in the body is lack of a suitable conduit. Having an autologous vessel for implantation would largely replace the utilization of prosthetic grafts, cadaveric grafts, or other conduits used when healthy autologous tissue is not available."
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