A woman who is to be given a vag*na grown in a laboratory has spoken of her hope to have a family one day.
She is one of four women born without a vag*na who have been given the new treatment, revealed last week.
Scientists at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center's Institute for Regenerative Medicine engineered the organs using the women's own cells.
The unnamed woman, from Mexico, is one of four women born without a vagina who have been given the new treatment, revealed last week.The organ is engineered using a woman's own cells.
The new organs have been given to women born with MRKH - Mayer-Rokitansky-Küster-Hauser (MRKH) syndrome, a rare genetic condition in which the vag*na and uterus are underdeveloped or absent.
One of the women, interviewed by New Scientist, credits the procedure with giving her a normal life.
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She said: 'At the beginning it wasn't easy, thinking that a part of your body was going to be made in a laboratory. It was difficult to understand.
'But as the years pass and with the good results, you find a way of life which is different but not too far from normality.
'You start from a point where you are scared of everything, of trying anything – you feel you aren't normal.
The lab-grown vagina developed from a woman's own cells
Eight years on, the woman says the organ works 'as if it weren't made in the lab' and her body has accepted it incredibly well
Eight years on, the woman says the organ works 'as if it weren't made in the lab' and her body has accepted it incredibly well.
The lab-grown vagina developed from a woman's own cells
'But with time, the support of friends and my partner, and the unconditional support of my mother who gave her all to understand me, I feel I am a very lucky person, fully satisfied.'
The unnamed woman, who lives in Mexico, was 18 when she was diagnosed with MRKH.
She said she had experienced 'moments of desperation' - especially when she was told she wouldn't have children - and the process had been difficult and painful.
But it was worth it - eight years on she says the organ works 'as if it weren't made in the lab' and her body has accepted it incredibly well.
HOW THEY DID IT.........
The organ structures were engineered using muscle and epithelial cells (the cells that line the body’s cavities) from a small biopsy of each patient’s external genitals.
The cells were extracted from the tissues, expanded and then placed on a biodegradable material that was hand-sewn into a vagina-like shape.
These scaffolds (pictured above) were tailor-made to fit each patient.
About five to six weeks after the biopsy, surgeons created a canal in the patient’s pelvis and attached the scaffold to reproductive structures.
At the same time the scaffolding material is being absorbed by the body, the cells lay down materials to form a permanent support structure – gradually replacing the engineered scaffold with a new organ.
She now hopes to have children, despite her options being limited - and dreams of the day she is interviewed surrounded by a large family.
The researchers also hope the treatment could be used to help women with vag*nal cancer or injuries.
.....Cuelled from the Dailymail.
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