Scientists grow functioning blood vessel in just 7 days

Scientists were recently able to grow a brand new blood vessel in seven days with just two tablespoon blood, it has been reported.

Michael Olausson, Surgeon/Medical Director of the Transplant Center, said that once again they used the stem cells of the patients to grow a new blood vessel that would permit the two organs to collaborate properly.

Professor Suchitra Sumitran-Holgersson, said that extracting stem cells from the bone marrow, which was done in previous cases was very painful, so she found a way to obtain the cells from the blood instead.

The blood itself accelerated growth of the new vein and the entire process took only a week,as opposed to a month in the first case, she further added.

The method involved taking 25 milliliter (approximately 2 tablespoons) of blood, the minimum quantity needed to obtain enough stem cells.

Researchers have treated three patients so far. Two of the three patients are still doing well and have veins that are functioning as they should. In the third case the child was under medical surveillance and the outcome was more uncertain.

The study is published in EBioMedicine.