Columbia (OTL) - Stem cell research dates back to the 1960s, and the first time this research was applied as an actual medical treatment was in 1968, when stem cells were used to treat immunodeficiency in adults. For decades, scientists have made promises about the promise of stem cell research, and in the past several years, stem cell research has been a topic of great controversy in western nations.
But that might be about to change after a medical break breakthrough using stem cell technology. Claudia Castillo, a thirty year-old Spanish mother of two, had her windpipe damaged from tuberculosis. This meant that her left lung barely functioned, and she suffered from severe shortness of breath, making every day activities very difficult.
Her doctors were faced with a choice: remove the offending left lung – a risky procedure which may or may not have benefited Claudia – or try a windpipe transplant. Transplants in general are difficult, dangerous operations: often times, a patient’s body rejects the donated organ or part as a foreign body and attacks it. As a result, transplant patients typically have to take powerful anti-rejection drugs that often leave the body with long-term damage.
But in Claudia’s case, a team of international doctors removed the existing tissues from the donated windpipe, leaving only a “scaffold” of cartilage. Onto this scaffold was added Claudia’s own tissues and stem cells from her bone marrow. By using Claudia’s own tissues and stem cells, the windpipe didn’t stand as much danger of being rejected.
The result? Five months later, Claudia Castillo is leading a normal life.