Custom vein transplant
Doctors have created a custom liver vein for a young girl by erasing all the cells from a donor vein, and replacing them with the patient’s stem cells.
They then surgically replaced the girl’s damaged liver vein with the new one — and saw her quality of life improve dramatically.
She gained weight, grew more than two inches, and was able to exercise more.
Experts say this new form of tissue engineering could help patients who don’t have veins healthy enough for dialysis or heart surgery.
