Belgian Woman Grows Transplanted Trachea in Her Forearm
A dead man's windpipe was transplanted into her arm to grow new blood vessels. It was then moved to her throat, where it is breathing normally Normally, if you have a windpipe nestled inside your arm, it's a problem. Not so for Linda de Croock, 54, who grew a dead man's trachea in her arm to acclimate it to her body before having it transplanted to her throat. A year after the surgery, researchers report in the New England Journal of Medicine that de Croock, a Belgian woman whose throat was crushed in a car accident 25 years ago, is doing well. de Croock took anti-rejection drugs before doctors wrapped the donor trachea in her own tissue, taken from her cheek, and implanted it in her forearm, where they attached it to a new blood supply. Though hosting an extra organ in her arm was reportedly uncomfortable, it definitely beat the...