A dead man's windpipe was transplanted into her arm to grow new blood vessels. It was then moved to her throat, where it is breathing normally

Normally, if you have a windpipe nestled inside your arm, it's a problem. Not so for Linda de Croock, 54, who grew a dead man's trachea in her arm to acclimate it to her body before having it transplanted to her throat.

The Trachea:  Gray's Anatomy, 20th Edition (1918) via Wikipedia
A year after the surgery, researchers report in the New England Journal of Medicine that de Croock, a Belgian woman whose throat was crushed in a car accident 25 years ago, is doing well. de Croock took anti-rejection drugs before doctors wrapped the donor trachea in her own tissue, taken from her cheek, and implanted it in her forearm, where they attached it to a new blood supply.

Though hosting an extra organ in her arm was reportedly uncomfortable, it definitely beat the two metal stents that had previously kept her windpipe open.

After about 10 months, doctors successfully transplanted the trachea from her arm to her throat. Because her own tissue now surrounds the windpipe, de Croock no longer has to take immunosuppressants, which leave the body vulnerable to attack and can cause cancer.

This trachea is the largest organ that has been successfully transplanted to date using this technique; the success shows great promise for future developments.

[Canadian Press via 80 beats]

13 Comments

yes! another step closer to implanting vaginas in palms and making handjobs economically feasible for our nations prostitutes!

Thumper_DS - LMAO!!! Oh man, you got issues... LOL

@Thumper_DS

Really? That's the first place you go? Issues indeed.

think about the possibilities, they can play with the balls at the same time with one hand. they can do twice.. nay, 3x the business at the same time!

@Thumper: You can do whatever the hell you want, but honestly, just go hide for a while when it comes time for Conservatives to vote on such a matter. You're the exact reason they're scared that if we allow gay people to wed, people will want to legally marry animals next. :)

Now for why I originally came here: *applause* This is awesome.

This is a big deal and wonderful. No immunosuppressant drugs. Eighty percent of transplant patients get cancer later in life from the drugs. Perhaps some new creative strategies will come from it. Like a donor scaffold of an organ coated in a clot like gel of stem cells of the patient. They slowly get absorbed into the organ while it is temporarily transplanted into the patient. Meanwhile donor blood vessels are slowly replaced by the patients own allowing a complex organ to literally grow into viability.

This is pretty amazing.

However, the reduction in immunosussion drugs is due to the fact that it is donated cartilage being transplanted, not a fully functional organ.

@Thumper_DS.....haha wow too funny!!!!WAFR!!!

Damned perverted jackasses. anyways, this is just gross. Who would want to grow an organ in their arms.

hey, what i said was obviously a joke. for a college course i wrote a thesis paper on why we should be funding cloning and stem cell research. i also wrote a paper on why we shouldnt, and that one was very hard and was full of bullshit, and i really tried to find good reasons.

@Thumpy "and that one was very hard and was full of bullshit, and i really tried to find good reasons"

The une most people use is: "an imaginary friend told me".

Thumper_DS, You sir, are a visionary. I created this account just to tell you this. Future Generations will think of your brilliance for years to come as they are receiving their modified hand jobs. Not only will this stimulate the economy, it will stimulate the genitals of men everywhere. The only possible problem I can foresee is the issue of pregnancy. Either way, you should take pride in your contribution to the well-being of our sexual satisfaction.Well done,sir. Well done indeed.

This is a big deal and wonderful. No immunosuppressant drugs. Eighty percent of transplant patients get cancer later in life from the drugs. Perhaps some new creative strategies will come from it. Like a donor scaffold of an organ coated in a clot like gel of stem cells of the patient. They slowly get absorbed into the organ while it is temporarily transplanted into the patient.

http://www.cirurgia-plastica.com/otoplastia/


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