A remarkable accomplishment

A Spanish woman has received a transplanted wind-pipe, but won't have to take anti-rejection drugs.

That's because the organ was engineered using her own, adult stem cells.

The method, already used to reconstruct hearts in lab animals, involves taking a donor trachea and removing the cells using chemicals and enzymes.

The resulting "scaffolding," made of a fibrous protein collagen, is then soaked in solutions using the recipient's own adult stem cells, which can be coaxed into growing the proper type of new cells, in this case, trachea cells.

The woman has had the wind pipe for four months, is showing no sign of rejection, and can climb two flights of stairs without getting out of breath.

For those of us who remember the first heart transplants, which made worldwide news, this quiet development is especially remarkable. Despite being accomplished quietly and without fanfare, it holds out hope for countless future patients with a wide variety of ills.