Regenerating the body

There have been amazing developments with the growing of human tissue and organs which are will surely help people with severe injuries. It should help prolong life, as well as create better quality of life for many people. At this time the technology is being used on a person to person basis i.e. the organs are grown for a specific patient with their own tissue. In time it will become mass produced and tailored with the genetic signature being added to the grown tissue just before transplantation. This as opposed to having to use the tissue from the patient to actually grow the tissue and organs. The doctors are already able  for example, to take a hand harvested from a cadaver and thereafter transplant it onto someone who has lost their hand. This is achieved by injecting genetic material from the patient into the cadaver's hand to prevent rejection.

A good friend of mine has a company in Israel which gets blood sent from people with genetic illnesses. In Israel, they change the DNA or genetic makeup of the blood sample, by inserting new genetic code in the laboratory. It is then sent back to the doctors who then re-inject the blood and the patients body accepts the new genetic signature, thereby curing the patient. The blood is not rejected because its the patients own blood. This type of procedure is being done for US patients in the Dominique Republic because it is not currently certified by the FDA. This hold up great hope for Diabetics and other chronic illnesses that are genetically based.

Here is a video, not for the faint hearted, documenting some of the most amazing new work and discoveries taking place today

Face Transplant

Wow! In an operation that took almost one day, transplant surgeons gave a woman with severe facial damage, an entirely new face from a cadaver. This was necessary as she could not eat on her own, or breathe without a hole in her windpipe, doctors at the Cleveland Clinic said on Wednesday December 18th, 2008. The woman’s identity was not disclosed, nor was the cause of her injury or the donor’s identity, however this is a major advance in transplanting and a highly experimental procedure. Dr. Maria Siemionow, a native of Poland, led the surgical team, which took turns at the operating table, of the the world’s fourth partial face transplant, the USA's first.

The Cleveland Clinic institutional review board said in 2004 that a face transplant was ethical and possible and approved Dr. Siemionow’s scientific blueprint for the experimental procedure. It was the first time any ethics committee in the world had given such permission. Medical ethicist's said Wednesday that in face transplant surgery the risks and benefits to the patient must be weighed carefully. The benefits of a face transplant are not only cosmetic, Dr. Finder said, adding, “The repair of the face can also have significant social consequences — like the ability to speak, or the ability to eat, that can be replaced because of having lips.”

To read more about this amazing procedure click the link to the New York Times:-http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/18/health/s18face.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=face%20transplant&st=cse

To see the video on ABC click:- http://abcnews.go.com/Video/playerIndex?id=6486752 or simply view the embedded video below from ITN:-