Spanish researchers unveiled a new method to create bioartifical organs for patients having theirs fail using stem cells. Scientist claim this will greatly reduce complications of the organ being donated.
In American more than 98,000 people are on the wait list for organ donation, and last year only 14,755 people actually donated organs. More than 6,000 people in America alone die each year because they did not receive a donated organ in time.
Just recently four people in Chicago, Illinois who received organ transplants got HIV and Hepatitis C from the donor. even though this donor was deemed high risk of carrying diseases. Cases such as these are extremely rare. It had been nearly twenty years since the last organ donor trasmitted HIV to a recipient. These high risk donors are quite more frequent than Americans may think. About 9% of organ donations come from those who are classified as high risk. Those spending time in jail, men having sex with other men, or using recreational drugs puts a donor at high risk for HIV or other diseases.
Clearly there are far more patients needing organs than there are donors. This makes the demand high. Matthew Kuehnert, director of blood, organ and tissue safety for the U.S. Centers for Disease Control states that the CDC guidelines actually spell it out saying the high-risk donors are considered ok if the risk to the recipient of not performing the transplant is deemed to be greater than the risk of HIV transmission and disease.
The new technique to create organs from stem cells solves two problems: the lack of donors suitable and the risk of rejection.
This new method involves “stripping” a donated organ which is deemed suitable for donation of their cells, leaving just a “scaffold”. Stem cells are then applied from the patient to this “scaffold” to re-grow the organ which will now share their DNA, making it far more acceptable to their body.
Doctors will be able to perform transplants involving these re-generated organs in an estimated five years. Madrid’s Gregorio Maranon hospital has the first lab in the world dedicated to producing bioartifical organs for transplant using adult stem cells. Three years prior the hospital became the first in the world to use stem cells from the fatty tissue of a patient, extracted through liposuction, to treat his heart.
Extensive investment has been aimed into stem-cell research, in hopes that immature, pre-cursor cells can be prompted into transforming specific adult cells for the brain, heart, and other organs.
Spain has transformed into a world leader in organ donation since it set up a huge network of transplant coodinators in 1989 at all their hospitals in the country which religiously monitor emergency wards for potential donors.
When a death is learned, they tactfully discuss the option with grieving families to get permission for use of the organs in attempt to help save lives. In the 1980’s when the program was first set up about 40% of families refused consent for organ donation, now only about 15% refuse.
