Given the success of the current patients, researchers from Wake Forest University’s Institute for Regenerative Medicine believe the treatment could also apply to women who suffer from vaginal cancer or have sustained serious injuries.
"This pilot study is the first to demonstrate that vaginal organs can be constructed in the lab and used successfully in humans," said team leader Dr. Anthony Atala in a news release, adding that the study reflects regenerative medicine’s wide applicability. "This may represent a new option for patients who require vaginal reconstructive surgeries.”
Scientists originally began construction on the organs by drawing samples of the patients’ own muscles and cells, in the form of biopsies, from their external genitals.
They extracted the cells from the tissues, expanded them, and worked each model into the shape of a vagina with the help of biodegradable scaffolding.
Roughly five to six weeks after the biopsies, surgeons created a canal in the patients’ pelvis, where they could implant each of the scaffoldings and attach them to reproductive structures.
From there, the body takes over. New tissues and cells latch on to the scaffolding and the body eventually replaces it with its own, real organ. Continue reading
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