CHICAGO (AP) -- A 2-year-old girl born without a windpipe now has a new one grown from her own stem cells, the youngest patient in the world to benefit from the experimental treatment. Hannah Warren has been unable to breathe, eat, drink or swallow on her own since she was born in South Korea in 2010. Until the operation at a central Illinois hospital, she had spent her entire life in a hospital in Seoul. Doctors there told her parents there was no hope and they expected her to die. The stem cells came from Hannah's bone marrow, extracted with a special needle inserted into her hip bone. They were seeded in a lab onto a plastic scaffold, where it took less than a week for them to multiply and create a new windpipe. About the size of a 3-inch tube of penne pasta, it was implanted April 9 in a nine-hour procedure. Early signs indicate the windpipe is working, Hannah's doctors announced Tuesday, although she is still on a ventilator. They believe she will eventually be able to live at home and lead a normal life. "We feel like she's reborn," said Hannah's father, Darryl Warren. "They hope that … Continue reading →

A two-year-old girl born without a windpipe now has a new one grown from her own stem cells, making her the youngest patient in the world to benefit from the experimental treatment. Hannah Warren has been unable to breathe, eat, drink or swallow on her own since she was born in South Korea in 2010. Until the operation at a U.S. hospital, she had spent her entire life in a hospital in Seoul. Doctors there told her parents there was no hope and they expected her to die. The stem cells came from Hannah's bone marrow, extracted with a special needle inserted into her hip bone. They were seeded in a lab onto a plastic scaffold, where it took less than a week for them to multiply and create a new windpipe. The windpipe was implanted April 9 in a nine-hour procedure. Early signs indicate the windpipe is working, Hannah's doctors announced Tuesday, although she is still on a ventilator. They believe she will eventually be able to live at home and lead a normal life. "We feel like she's reborn," said Hannah's father, Darryl Warren. "They hope that she can do everything that a normal child can do but … Continue reading →

WALTHAM, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- ViaCord, PerkinElmers family cord blood and tissue preservation business, is collaborating with the Center for International Blood and Marrow Transplant Research (CIBMTR) to collect, maintain and publish research from ViaCords cord blood stem cell transplants. This collaboration will expand knowledge of cord blood-derived stem cell applications throughout the medical and research community. To date, CIBMTRs large network of transplant centers has resulted in the development of a clinical database of more than 30,000 cord blood transplant recipients for clinical decision-making, use in studies, and other research purposes with the goal of making a profound impact on the survival of cord blood transplant patients around the world. CIBMTR will work directly with ViaCord to collect and analyze data to better understand the quality and any outcome metrics of ViaCords released cord blood stem cell units as well as how the units are being used. Collaborating with CIBMTR, which has established the industry standard for collecting data around hematopoietic cellular therapy and regenerative medicine, allows us to simultaneously gain insights into the effectiveness of the cord blood stem cell units we have released for use as well as outcomes from their clinical application, said Morey Kraus, Chief Scientific Officer, … Continue reading →

Experimental stem-cell treatment has been credited with saving the life of a 2-year-old girl who was born without a windpipe. The Associated Press reported that the treatment involved extracting cells from the girls own hip bone marrow. The cells were then seeded on a plastic base, and left for a week to multiply and grow. They grew into a windpipe, which was subsequently implanted on the girl, Hannah Warren, in a nine-hour surgery on April 9, AP reported. Until her operation, the girl who was born in South Korea in 2010 had not been able to breathe or eat without medical assistance. She had spent her entire life in a Seoul hospital, awaiting death until being transported to the United States for the experimental treatment. Early prognosis is positive. Doctors said Tuesday she will likely be able to lead a normal life, AP reported. We feel like shes reborn, said her father, Darryl Warren, in the AP report. They hope that she can do everything that a normal child can do, but its going to take time. This is a brand new road that all of us are on. This is her only chance, but shes got a fantastic one … Continue reading →

A 2-year-old girl born without a windpipe now has a new one grown from her own stem cells, the youngest patient in the world to benefit from the experimental treatment. Hannah Warren has been unable to breathe, eat, drink or swallow on her own since she was born in South Korea in 2010. Until the operation at a central Illinois hospital, she had spent her entire life in a hospital in Seoul. Doctors there told her parents there was no hope and they expected her to die. The stem cells came from Hannah's bone marrow, extracted with a special needle inserted into her hip bone. They were seeded in a lab onto a plastic scaffold, where it took less than a week for them to multiply and create a new windpipe. About the size of a 3-inch tube of penne pasta, it was implanted April 9 in a nine-hour procedure. Early signs indicate the windpipe is working, Hannah's doctors announced Tuesday, although she is still on a ventilator. They believe she will eventually be able to live at home and lead a normal life. "We feel like she's reborn," said Hannah's father, Darryl Warren. "They hope that she can do … Continue reading →