Society and Technology

Heart made to order

It's amazing how far we have come in medical technology, but of course with such advancement comes many ethical questions.  When people hear the words "stem cells" people think of the controversy over human embryonic stem cell research, but what people fail to realize is that human embryonic stem cell research is only a branch of stem research.  Stem cell research has a very promising future that could help save countless lives.   One such branch that could be very promising is adult stem cell research.  Not only is the use of adult stem cell more ethical because it does not involve the destruction of a human embryo, but also patients will not reject the organs made from the adult stem cells because the stem cells are usually taken from the patient.

Even though stem research is relatively new there have already been some accomplishments made.  Recently British doctors have grown the first successful human heart valve using stem cells from bone marrow.  The stem cells are placed into collagen moulds so they can grow into 3cm heart valves.  Afterwards the tissues are implanted into animals and monitored for side effects.  Scientist hope that withing a decade they will be able to grow an entire human heart.  So far the technology seems very promising and the fact that we may be able to effectively fight off heart disease is great news.

Posted at 04:11AM Dec 12, 2008 by Robert Earle in General  |  Comments[0]