Monday, April 14, 2014

Laboratory-produced vaginas implanted in patients

A research team led by Anthony Atala, M.D. director of Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center's Institute for Regenerative Medicine, reported in the Lancet of four teenage girls who received vaginal organs engineered with their own cells. The four girls were between the ages of 13 and 18 at the time of their surgeries, between June 2005 and October 2008. They were born with Mayer-Rokitansy-Kuster-Hauser (MRKH) syndrome, a rare genetic disease in which the vagina or uterus are underdeveloped or absent.

The organ structures used were genetically engineered using muscle and epithelial cells, (epithelial cells are the cells that line the body's cavities). The cells were retrieved using a small biopsy of each patient's external genitals. The cells were then extracted from the tissue, expanded, and then placed on a biodegradable material. The material was then hand-sewn into a vagina shape.


(The scaffold being constructed into a vaginal shape)

Approximately 5 to 6 weeks after the biopsy, surgeons created canals in the patients' pelvis and sutured the scaffold to reproductive structures. Prior clinical research had shown that cell-seeded scaffolds implanted in the body form nerves and blood vessels and ultimately expand to form tissue. As the scaffolding material is being absorbed by the body, the cells are laying down materials to create a new permanent structure. The engineered structure is thus gradually replaced by a new, real organ.

Data gathered from annual check-up visits on the patients proved that even up to eight years later, the organs were still functioning normally. Additionally, the patients' responses to a Female Sexual Function Index questionnaire proved they had they displayed normal sexual functions.

This pilot study is the first to demonstrate that vaginal organs can be designed in a lab and used successfully in humans. Vaginal implants now may represent a new option for patients who require vaginal reconstruction surgeries.

Find the original article at: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/04/140410194326.htm

3 comments:

  1. I saw this article recently online and I think this an incredible discovery and I know it has probably helped the women in the study drastically. I am so amazed at how technology work sometimes, this is amazing.

    ReplyDelete
  2. This major advancement in medicine will offer normal childhoods and adulthoods to girls who were born with an absence of or underdeveloped reproductive systems. The fact that these new organs are made from cells taken from the girls' bodies only makes the "man-made" organ more realistic and thus allows the girls to lead normal lives which includes a normal sex life.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hey good sean, great post here. Vaginal reconstruction surgeries are a big deal for the girls who have to have them done, so avoiding this would be great. We are now getting to the era where actual organ implants are becoming possible due to areas of research such as stem cells. They are allowing for implants to be done and make sure that the body won't deny the organ and cause further problems. All in all, great post, good to see the men in our world caring so much.

    ReplyDelete