Woman Gets New Windpipe In Groundbreaking Transplant Surgery
A medical team in New York City says it has performed the first complete surgical transplant of a trachea. These kinds of transplants are one of the last big transplant challenges.
A medical team in New York City says it has performed the first complete surgical transplant of a windpipe.
The trachea is basically a tube that transports air to and from the lungs, so you might think it would be easy to transplant. But not so. In fact, trachea transplants have been one of the last big challenges in this area of medicine.
A 56-year-old woman from the Bronx, New York, named Sonia Sein is the recipient. She ended up in the hospital six years ago after a particularly nasty asthma attack. To help her breathe, she says, doctors inserted a tube down her throat.
"I was intubated too long so the trachea
