China develops world's first artificial sternum
Press Trust of India
Beijing, August 24
In a major medical breakthrough, a Chinese hospital has successfully developed world's first artificial human chest bones by using pig bones for repairing broken thoracic walls, a report said on Sunday.
The artificial chest bones, or sternums, have so far only been used on dogs, Beijing Daily said.
The sternums will be put into trial clinical use in a year's time, the paper quoted doctors as saying.
Doctors at the Shanghai Thoracic Hospital first separated some rib cells from patients for breeding, and then transplanted them into pig bones the cells of which had been removed.
The human rib cells survived and grew on the pig bones, functioned as a culture medium, and absorbed the disposable pig bones.
Finally, a chest bone consisting of the patient's cells came into being, Qiang, who was in charge of the experiment, said.
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