This sounds like something out of science fiction, but may be on its way to becoming science fact.

Five soldiers at a military base in Texas are about to participate in a remarkable test to see whether they can regrow portions of fingers they lost in the war in Iraq.

Doctors plan to treat them with a fine powder called extracellular matrix, which is harvested from pig bladders. The material, found in all animals, is the scaffolding that cells latch onto as they divide and grow into tissue and body parts.

In the human body, it was long thought to be inert. But scientists have discovered that it appears to activate latent biological processes that spur healing and regenerate tissue.

Medical researchers have been making intriguing progress in the field of regenerative medicine. The pilot test, at the U.S. Army Institute of Surgical Research at Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio, shows how doctors are trying to apply their recent discoveries to a pressing challenge: helping thousands of Americans returning from Iraq to recover from wounds that would have killed soldiers a generation ago.

Now this is unlikely to result in the complete regrowth of entire digits, or even the bone in a segment – but it may enable some patients to have more complete use of hands after serious injury. That is great advance that will help people in both the military and civilian worlds.

Posted by: Greg at 12:39 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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