New Paper in The Lancet Describes Proof-of-Concept Study Involving Implantation of Synthetic Tissue-Engineered Windpipe
Tailor-Made Synthetic Tracheal Scaffold Called “An Urgent Clinical Need”Tracheal tumors can be surgically removed, but most are too large for the surgery to be successful by the time they are discovered. Therefore, new therapeutic options are needed. Even in patients with operable tumors, the proportion of complete tumor resection is less than 60%. This outcome would be greatly improved if a trachea substitute with similar anatomical, physiological and biomechanical properties of the patient’s original trachea were available. A team led by Paolo Macchiarini, MD, PhD, of Karolinska