Medical Breakthrough
First synthetic organ transplant
The replacement windpipe seen in the photo was grown in the lab.
Surgeons in Sweden have carried out the world's first synthetic organ transplant. Scientists in London created an artificial windpipe which was then coated in stem cells from the patient. The windpipe is a synthetic one. The beauty of this is — you can have it immediately; there is no delay. This technique does not rely on a human donation and there is no risk of the organ being rejected. The 36-year-old cancer patient is doing well a month after the operation. Professor Paolo Macchiarini from Italy led the pioneering surgery, which took place at the Karolinska University Hospital. The key to the latest technique is modelling a structure or scaffold that is an exact replica of the patient's own windpipe, removing the need for a donor organ.
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