German doctors: Fat stem cells used to repair major skull injury
UNDATED Surgeons in Germany are describing a breakthrough procedure in which they were able to use stem cells from fat to help repair skull damage in a seven-year-old girl. It's believed to be the first time that cells derived from fat have been successfully used to grow bone in a human.
The child's injury was so severe that, at times, her brain could be seen pulsating through the missing patches of skull.
Surgeons say after fragments of the child's bone were mixed with her own stem cells, the cells apparently reacted by creating additional bone.
A U-S expert in reconstructive surgery is calling the study "a very big deal."
Doctor Roy Ogle at the University of Virginia says it also shows the implanted cells did no harm, which is a concern within the medical community.
Researchers wrote about the case in the Journal of Cranio-Maxillofacial Surgery.
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