Windpiped Defect Repair Possible

It's been across the world's press, yes, the report by Dr. Fauza's group in the Boston Children's Hospital.

The team have employed a method of seeding embryonic cells onto a biodegradable scaffold, and with the addition of growth factors, the cells produced healthy cartilage. The grafts, once mature, were used to repair the windpipes of seven foetal lambs, animals which grow at approximately the same rapid rate as a human.The technology, termed autologous chondrocyte implantation, has been previously employed within the cartilage of joints, with mixed success. The findings of this study are almost a best case scenario - the cells are young and strong from the amniotic fluid, and the lamb's body at a foetal stage is surging with growth hormones, proteins, and a very particular healing process able to work much more effectively than that in an adult.

The age of such cells is very important, every time cells divide, they become less metabolically active, and more likely to become cancerous. Most cells exhibit senescence, a property by which they will eventually stop dividing. Rapid growth of cells from an adult in order to perform this kind of proceedure may result in an increased risk of cancer, or at the best, impaired future tissue health.

The healing within both a foetus and a neonate is very rapid, and rarely leaves a scar. The process itself is so different, that doubt may be raised as to whether the healing response observed in this study could be replicated in other than paediatric cases.

All in all, these are excellent results for a particular problem, and highlight the vast body of research currently taking place on this elegant combination of natural healing and high technology.