Groundbreaking Stem Cell Surgery: Doctors Restore A Teenager’s Missing Cheekbones using his Own Stem Cells
When one first mentions plastic surgery the obvious place that the mind heads is to the cosmetic; but plastic surgery is about far more than breast implants and tummy tucks.
In a groundbreaking procedure that could impact the lives of thousands, doctors at the Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center were able to restore a teenager’s missing cheekbones using his own stem cells.
Brad Guilkey, who was 14 at the time of the surgery in May 2009, suffers from a rare condition known as Treacher Collins syndrome, one result of which was that the bones that should have been present to protect his eyes were missing. Not only did this adversely affect his appearance but it also put him at serious risk for eye injury.
In the past surgeons have attempted to restore bone in those who it is lacking – either as a result of disease or traumatic accident – by using transplanted material from other areas of the patients body or in some cases cadaver bone. These reconstruction attempts have a high rate of failure because the body tends to reject the foreign material. The new surgical technique was designed to overcome such problems, utilizing stem cells that are known as mesenchymal stem cells. Using such stem cells means that the risk of rejection is greatly reduced, providing a far more successful surgical outcome.
The surgical team, led by Dr Jesse Taylor, perfected their technique on pigs before moving up to humans. As a pig’s immune system is very similar to a human’s, according to Dr Taylor they made the best research subjects in this case.
During the course of Brad’s operation, which took an entire day, Dr Taylor and his team initially took sections of donor bone that were to be used as a sort of mini scaffold system to encourage new bone to grow. Holes were then drilled into these scaffolds, or allografts as they are technically known, and stem cells taken from the teenagers own abdominal fat were injected inside. They then added morphogenic protein-2 (BMP-2), a growth protein that was the key for instructing the stem cells to become bone cells (called osteoblasts)
Months after his surgery CT scans revealed that Brad’s cheekbones are now complete, filled with his own viable, living bone. The boy can now resume all the sports he loves so much, although he may have one more surgery to correct drooping eyelids, another problem caused by his condition.
As there are an estimated 7 million people living currently in the United States who have bone defects that may have been previously impossible to repair, the promise held by this new surgical technique is vast indeed, and it is the hope of Dr Taylor and his team that Brad will just be the first of many to benefit. “We think this will benefit millions of people who, through traumatic injury or disease, have significant bone defects,” Dr Taylor said.
October 13th, 2009 at 9:48 pm
oh my gosh!! I have always believed that stem cells could work miracles. Congrats to Brad and his team of doctors.
Thank god we are no longer in the clutches of the “religous right” and GWBush! No abortions were needed
to complete this task. I still shake my head at their stupidity. My wish for them is to learn that Karma is real. Proper funding of this science could have helped soo many people.
We each have the tools within us to fix ourselves…that is soo cool. Perhaps someday soon we will be able to donate stem cells to eachother if needed.
Blessings Be
river