Politics
Monday February 4, 2008
New Upper Jaw Grown from Patient's Own Stem Cells
TODAY'S HEADLINES
E-MAIL
PRINT
By Hilary White
HELSINKI, Finland, February 4, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Dramatic results continue to be achieved by scientists using stem cells taken from adult patients. On Friday, Reuters reported that scientists in Helsinki, Finland, had replaced the upper jaw of a 65 year-old man, with a bone graft that had been grown from his own cells.
Dr. Riitta Suuronen, head of the Regea Institute of Regenerative Medicine, and a specialist in oral and maxillofacial surgery, told a news conference, "From the outside nobody would be able to tell he has been through such a procedure." The Institute, associated with Tampere University, is a leader in the field of tissue engineering and started its tissue bank in 2005.
The patient, who is not named, suffered the loss of his upper jaw after tumours had been removed.
The stem cells came from the man's fatty tissue and were cultivated for two weeks. From the cells that developed, the scientists selected a set of cells called mesenchymal stem cells - those that give rise to bone tissue. These were placed in a scaffold created from a biomaterial that mimics the body's natural bone-growth process.
The structure was then placed inside the patient's abdomen and allowed to grow for nine months. Screws and microsurgery were used to implant the structure in the man's head and connect blood vessels to arteries in his neck.
"There have been a couple of similar-sounding procedures before, but these didn't use the patient's own stem cells that were first cultured and expanded in laboratory and differentiated into bone tissue," said Dr. Suuronen
The Regea Institute uses both patient-derived stem cells and those taken from "voluntarily donated embryos, unsuitable for artificial insemination or otherwise defective". Regea Tissue Bank stores and delivers human tissue for clinical purposes to hospitals in Finland according to guidelines set out by the European Union.
The field of tissue engineering and regenerative medicine is among the most exciting today and it is largely driven by breakthroughs using non-embryonic sources. In a procedure similar to that of the Regea Institute, in 2004 a German man received a new lower jaw that had been grown in his back, using a combination of his own bone tissues and a titanium scaffold.
Back to TopLatest Headlines
- US Congress Passes Health Care Reform Bill 220 - 215
- Stupak Amendment to Health Care Bill Passes 240 - 194 Saturday Evening
- NY Times: Dems Banking on Later Squeezing Pro-Life Language Out of Bill in Committee
- USCCB Spokesman: "Definitely Not True" that Bishops Support Bill As it Stands
- TIME Got it Wrong - Prof. George Opposed Grandiose Kennedy Funeral
- Major Health Care Development - Pro-Life Stupak Amendment Vote OK'd for Saturday
- USCCB Condemnation Tears Facade off "Phony" Abortion Compromise for Health Bill
- Health Care Bill Includes Monthly Abortion Premium: House Minority Leader Boehner
- TIME Article Setting Burke Against O'Malley Called "Tactical strike" on Behalf of Catholic Left
- Dirty Fighting on Abortion Funding: Word-Games and Health-Care Theatrics Boggle the Mind
- Commentary on November 6 News
- Note to LifeSiteNews Subscribers with Rogers email addresses
- New York Gov. Declares Nov. 10 Extraordinary Legislative Session for Same-Sex "Marriage"
- Washington's Pro-Family Amendment Effort Defeated - R-71 Almost Certain to Pass
- Vote Pushed Back on Canadian Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide Bill to Dec. 2
- Elderly U.K. Couple in Good Health Commit Suicide, Complain of Assisted Suicide Law
- Texas Late-Term Abortionist and Baptist Minister Admits: "Am I killing? Yes, I am"
- New Evidence Contradicts CCHD's Findings on Accused Pro-Abortion Partner
- Quebec Priest Denies Possibility of Sexual Reorientation Therapy on TV
- New Hampshire Same-Sex "Marriage" Law in Crosshairs after Maine's Law Crumbles
- Brooklyn Bishop Criticized for Recorded Message Praising Pro-Abortion Politician
- First Group of "Traditionalist" Anglicans in Britain Votes to Enter Catholic Church
Most Read this Week
- Planned Parenthood Director Resigns after Watching Ultrasound of Abortion Procedure
- Nun Defiant Following Rebuke, but Stops Abortion Escorting
- Breaking: Dominican Community Apologizes for Nun Caught Acting as Abortion Escort
- TIME Article Setting Burke Against O'Malley Called "Tactical strike" on Behalf of Catholics Left
- Over 200 Christendom College Students Protest Abortion at Planned Parenthood Clinic
- US Congress Passes Health Care Reform Bill 218 to 215
- Newly Identified Corporate Supporters of Planned Parenthood Named
- Scottish Gay Rights Activists Found Guilty of Pedophilia Sentenced to Life Imprisonment
- Major Health Care Bill Development - Stupak Hyde Amendment Vote OK'd
- Health Care Bill Includes Monthly Abortion Premium: House Minority Leader Boehner
MORE NEWS: 
LifeSiteNews.com Home Page Last 10 Days Archives Special Reports
Copyright © LifeSiteNews.com. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivatives License. You may republish this article or portions of it without request provided the content is not altered and it is clearly attributed to "LifeSiteNews.com". Any website publishing of complete or large portions of original LifeSiteNews articles MUST additionally include a live link to www.LifeSiteNews.com. The link is not required for excerpts. Republishing of articles on LifeSiteNews.com from other sources as noted is subject to the conditions of those sources.