Doctors Grow Facial Bone in Groundbreaking Procedure
In a first-of-its kind procedure, physicians have used stem cells taken from the fat tissue of a 14-year-old boy and combined them with growth protein and donor tissue to grow viable cheek bones in the teen.
Boning Up with Patient’s Own Stem Cells
The photos at top left and right show 14-year-old Brad Guilkey a week before his surgery and a few months post surgery. Side-by-side images of CT scans taken before and after surgery reveal a noted absence of zygomatic (cheek) bone structure on Brad's face (bottom left); and the presence of healthy, dense bone structure a few months following the May 28 procedure (bottom right).
Stem Cells are Key to Procedure Success
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Watch a video of Dr. Jesse Taylor and his team working with Brad Guilkey.
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The new procedure dramatically improves the options surgeons have for repairing bone deficiencies caused by traumatic injuries – such as those from car accidents or soldiers wounded in battle – or by disease and genetic conditions, according to Jesse Taylor, MD, a surgeon and researcher in the Division of Craniofacial and Pediatric Plastic Surgery at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center. An estimated 7 million people in the United States have defects in bone continuity so severe that repair is difficult.
Read more from the news release.
