Stem Cells Spawn First Drug-Free Windpipe Transplant

sea-maid submitted, created time 1 month 2 weeks (www.bloomberg.com)

Doctors operating on a 30-year-old Colombian woman restored her ability to breathe freely with the world's first transplanted windpipe specially treated to prevent organ rejection.

The airway connecting Claudia Castillo Sanchez's left lung to her windpipe collapsed after a persistent tuberculosis infection, leaving her short of breath and unable to perform routine daily activities. Efforts to prop it open failed, leaving Spanish doctors two options: remove the lung or replace the airway using an experimental technique tried only in animals

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