LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - Born with a structural defect of his large airway, Ciaran Finn-Lynch, underwent the transplant in March of 2010 at Great Ormond Street Hospital in London. His windpipe was removed and replaced by a windpipe from a deceased donor in Italy.

In preparation for the transplant, the donated windpipe was stripped of the donor's cells down to the inert structure of collagen. Tissue from the lining of Finn-Lynch's windpipe was implanted in the new windpipe to begin the growth of a lining in the donated windpipe.

Surgeons then laced the transplanted windpipe with Finn-Lynch's own bone marrow stem cells in order to prevent cellular rejection. The teen also received compounds to promote the growth and differentiation of cells within the new windpipe.

The operation was the first attempt to grow adult stem cells within the body of a person who had this type of operation, rather than in a laboratory.

"Since the treatment plan for Ciaran was devised in an emergency, we used a novel mix of techniques that have proved successful in treating other conditions," co-author Martin Birchall, a professor of laryngology at University College London's Ear Institute, said in new release.

"To minimize delays, we bypassed the usual process of growing cells in the laboratory over a period of weeks, and instead opted to grow the cells inside the body, in a similar manner to treatments currently being (tested) with patients who have had heart attacks."

Birchall added that more research is still needed on stem cells grown deliberately inside the body. "This research should help to convert one-off successes such as this into more widely available clinical treatments for thousands of children with severe tracheal problems worldwide," he said.

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