New trachea of ​​skin and cartilage

Hope in trachea destroyed by cancerous tumors: Doctors formed an artificial trachea from skin and cartilage. A total of five medical interventions have already been successful.

01/12/2010

Patients with the rare disease tracheal cancer may hope for surgical help in the future. French physicians have succeeded in the past to form a new trachea from the skin and cartilage. From the newly assembled tissue can be rebuilt in a destroyed by tumors trachea a new one.

Particularly in the case of tracheal cancer, only conventional cancer therapies have so far been available. These include radiotherapy, surgical removal of the cancerous tumor, chemotherapy. In the case of a destroyed trachea, there have been no adequate treatment methods besides the placement of tracheal stents. Now French skin tissue and cartilage surgeons have created a new trachea in cancer patients. The grafts could be used for the reconstruction of the trachea. The team of physicians led by the surgeon Philippe Dartevelle and Frédéric Kolb presented the results of the study work at the Marie Lannelongue Surgical Center in Le Plessis Robinson to the scientific audience. In presenting the results, the clinicians explained that the grafts were formed from the body's own skin tissue of the patient. To achieve stability, cartilage was removed from the ribs. From both types of tissue an artificial air tube could be formed in specialized procedures.

First patient already treated
In the past six years, seven patients have already been treated with the novel method. In the majority of cases a successful treatment could be achieved. Five patients had survived the operation well, but two patients died from respiratory infections.

Tracheal cancer is a very rare cancer. According to the Federal Statistical Office, around 40,000 people died of lung cancer in Germany in 2006. On tracheal cancer, however, died only 40 people. The trachea connects the external respiratory organs, which include the nasal cavity and pharynx, to the lung bronchial system. The tube has an adult length of 10 to 12 cm. The mantle of the trachea is stabilized by a 6 to 20 horseshoe-shaped hyaline cartilage. So it can not happen that people do not collapse when inhaling.

In many treatment fields already endogenous tissue could be successfully used, e.g. to repair mutilated body parts such as nose or mouth. The advantage here is that the body does not hit its own tissue and in most cases no immune reaction occurs. When the treatment method is also available in Germany is still unclear. (Sb)