Doctors Report Regrowing Patient's Livers From Stem Cells
Related News: Stem Cells and LiverDoctors in the UK are announcing that they have made a significant breakthrough using patients' own stem cells to regrow their own livers. This obviously adds to the hope that one day, researchers could develop methods of replacing organ transplant procedures in future.
Six weeks ago stem cells were extracted from the blood of five human volunteers, and were then injected back into the patient's livers. Early results show that inside the patients' livers, the cells have already started to grow.
Nagy Habib, who is the professor of liver services at Hammersmith Hospital, is overseeing the project said: "The treatment is still experimental, but we hope that we have made a significant breakthrough."
The goal of the initial experiment was to prove that this latest technique would work using only a few stem cells. What is hopefull is that already, there are signs of some liver function being restored.
The new treatment involved injecting the stem cells directly into the hepatic artery by the liver under local anaesthetic. Karl Hodgson was one of the five patients treated by Prof Habib. He was given a place on the trial after his mother saw this newspaper's original article on the internet.
Posted on May 30, 2005 03:14 PM