New research raises hopes of heart patients

A heart patient undergoing surgery at the Kenyatta National Hospital in Nairobi on March 14, 2016. Researchers in China have made synthetic blood vessels that grow when implanted in the body, unlike tissue grafts used to correct faulty blood vessels. PHOTO | SALATON NJAU | NATION MEDIA GROUP

What you need to know:

  • Scientists at Sichuan Revotek have made synthetic blood vessels that grow when implanted in the body, unlike tissue grafts used to correct faulty blood vessels.
  • The breakthrough gives hope to a future where people in need of organs will not have to wait for long for organs that their bodies could reject.

Researchers in China have made groundbreaking progress that raises hope for millions of people who suffer from cardiovascular disease.

Scientists at Sichuan Revotek, a Chinese biotechnology firm, have made synthetic blood vessels that grow when implanted in the body, unlike tissue grafts used to correct faulty blood vessels.

The scientists, led by James Kang, CEO of Sichuan Revotek, cut a portion of a monkey’s abdominal artery and replaced it with a substitute they had created in the lab. The replacement grew into place and functioned exactly like the artery. The experiment was performed on 30 monkeys with similar success.

This breakthrough could particularly help children born with heart defects, who could be treated with just one surgery rather than several.

Children born with faulty blood vessels need several surgeries because the blood vessels implanted do not grow in line with the rest of the body and must be replaced.

The stem cells used by the Chinese scientists are derived from fat cells, and not embryonic cells as happens with most stem cells. This is significant in helping with the acceptance of the technology because some religious orders object to usage of embryonic stem cells for medical purposes.

CREATE ORGANS

Stem cells have the ability to grow into any cell in the body, which is why they are used to create organs. Organs created from one’s own cells have an advantage over donated organs because they are less likely to be rejected by the body.

The breakthrough gives hope to a future where people in need of organs will not have to wait for long for organs that their bodies could reject.

In Kenya, the queue for those needing a transplant is more than a year long. Organ donation is legal in Kenya but only blood relatives are allowed to contribute. An exception is made for married couples so long as they prove that they are legally married.

The promise offered by technology that allows for printing of blood vessels is that the sick will be able to grow personalised replacement organs that are the right shape and the right size, grown from their own cells so that the body does not reject them.

Bioengineering tissue has come a long way since it was first discovered by American scientists nearly twenty years ago. Since 1998 scientists have been able to grow skin to be used by burn victims.

American researchers have in the past grown tracheas, bladders and even grown a human ear that was then attached to the back of a mouse.