Boy With Aggressive Disease Gets New Skin From Stem Cells
- 7 years ago
Doctors with the Ruhr-Universität Bochum’s burn unit and the Center for Regenerative Medicine at the University of Modena saved a young boy’s life by transplanting skin made from his own stem cells.
Doctors with the Ruhr-Universität Bochum's burn unit and the Center for Regenerative Medicine at the University of Modena saved a young boy's life by transplanting skin made from his own stem cells.
The child, named Hassan, suffers from epidermolysis bullosa, an incurable and potentially fatal genetic disease that renders the skin incredibly fragile.
According to a press release from Ruhr-Universität Bochum, he had suffered a 60 percent epidermis (outer skin layer) loss by the time he arrived at a Bochum hospital.
"[Hassan had] severe sepsis with high fever, and his body weight had dropped to a mere [37.5 pounds] – a life-threatening condition," Dr Tobias Rothoeft, one of the doctors, commented.
After exhausting all other options, the team decided to go with the experimental skin cultivation and transplant procedure.
They harvested stem cells from the undamaged part, corrected the problematic genetic content, and grew uncompromised epidermis.
The tissue was then grafted onto about 80 percent of Hassan's body.
That procedure was done over two years ago, and according to the release, the boy continues to have, "high-quality, stress-resistant skin…No scar contractures have appeared in transplanted areas."
"Hassan is attending school again and is actively taking part in his family's social life," it further notes.
Doctors with the Ruhr-Universität Bochum's burn unit and the Center for Regenerative Medicine at the University of Modena saved a young boy's life by transplanting skin made from his own stem cells.
The child, named Hassan, suffers from epidermolysis bullosa, an incurable and potentially fatal genetic disease that renders the skin incredibly fragile.
According to a press release from Ruhr-Universität Bochum, he had suffered a 60 percent epidermis (outer skin layer) loss by the time he arrived at a Bochum hospital.
"[Hassan had] severe sepsis with high fever, and his body weight had dropped to a mere [37.5 pounds] – a life-threatening condition," Dr Tobias Rothoeft, one of the doctors, commented.
After exhausting all other options, the team decided to go with the experimental skin cultivation and transplant procedure.
They harvested stem cells from the undamaged part, corrected the problematic genetic content, and grew uncompromised epidermis.
The tissue was then grafted onto about 80 percent of Hassan's body.
That procedure was done over two years ago, and according to the release, the boy continues to have, "high-quality, stress-resistant skin…No scar contractures have appeared in transplanted areas."
"Hassan is attending school again and is actively taking part in his family's social life," it further notes.