abcnews.go.com
Hannah Warren, 2½, was born with tracheal agenesis, a rare and usually fatal birth defect. She had spent her entire life in a neonatal intensive care unit in a hospital in Seoul, South Korea, unable to breathe, swallow, eat or drink on her own. But after a nine-hour marathon operation to implant a windpipe made of nanofiber mesh coated with her own bone marrow cells, the girl in pigtails finally had her first lollipop.
"All we have ever wanted since Hannah was born was to be able to bring her home and be a regular family," Hannah's father, Darryl Warren, said in a statement from the Children's Hospital of Illinois, where an international team of doctors took on Hannah's unusual case.
Hannah is the first child to receive a tissue-engineered trachea devoid of any donor cells, according to the Peoria, Ill.-based hospital. Lead surgeon Dr. Paolo Macchiarini, professor of regenerative surgery at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden, said the transplant crosses frontiers by eliminating the need for a human donor and a lifetime of immunosuppressant drugs.
Courtesy Jim Carlson/Saint Francis Medical Center
Hannah Warren, 2, was born without a windpipe... View Full Size
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Hannah is still recovering with the support of pulmonologists, respiratory therapists and speech therapists, according to a hospital statement.
"Words cannot express our thanks to everyone who has helped make this dream a reality," said Canadian-born Darryl Warren, who was accompanied to the United States by his Korean wife, Young-Mi, and their 4-year-old daughter, Dana. "We know one day soon we will get to make that trip home."
Macchiarini and his team have transplanting artificial tracheas since 2008. In July 2012, 13-year-old Ciaran Finn-Lynch became the first child to receive a donor trachea stripped of cells and re-seeded with his own. But Hannah is the youngest patient to receive an artificial trachea, and the first child to receive an organ made solely from synthetic materials and her own cells.
"Hannah's case is a great example of how the international community can work together to save a child's life," co-surgeon Dr. Mark Holterman, professor of surgery and pediatrics at the University of Illinois College of Medicine at Peoria, said in a statement.
At a press conference Tuesday, Hannah's parents expressed tearful gratitude to all the doctors who helped save their daughter.
"It's been a long journey for her," Darryl Warren said of Hannah's battle since birth and the trip from Seoul. "We're just so blessed that she was able to get this unbelievable opportunity. She really only had one chance, and now she got it. She's here with us. And we couldn't ask for anything else."
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蘋果日報 ： 2歲女 幹細胞造氣管 全球最年幼移植者 彌補先天缺憾
漢娜手術成功後，2歲女 幹細胞造氣管露出天真笑容。美聯社
美國
【莊蕙嘉╱綜合外電報導】2歲半的加拿大與南韓混血女童漢娜華倫，出生時沒有氣管，一度被醫師認定遲早夭折。但她的父母不放棄，拜託義大利權威醫師執刀，用女童自體幹細胞培養氣管並成功移植，成為全球接受這類手術中年紀最小者。
【莊蕙嘉╱綜合外電報導】2歲半的加拿大與南韓混血女童漢娜華倫，出生時沒有氣管，一度被醫師認定遲早夭折。但她的父母不放棄，拜託義大利權威醫師執刀，用女童自體幹細胞培養氣管並成功移植，成為全球接受這類手術中年紀最小者。
術後恢復良好的漢娜雖然還不能進食，但已實現一項願望：舔一口棒棒糖。
美助鉅額醫費
2010年8月在首爾出生的漢娜（Hannah Warren）生來沒有氣管，無法呼吸或吞嚥，出生後就一直住在新生兒加護病房。當時醫師說漢娜治癒無望，勸父母要有心理準備。
她的父母戴洛華倫和李泳美（音譯）蒐集資料，發現義大利醫師馬奇亞里尼（Paolo Macchiarini）專精幹細胞培育器官的移植手術，但無法負擔到他任職的瑞典醫院動手術的龐大開銷。
此時美國伊利諾州兒童醫院醫師霍特曼伸出援手，讓漢娜到美國接受手術，邀馬奇亞里尼執刀，且費用由院方負責。
漢娜上月9日接受9個小時手術，用她的幹細胞培養出長約7.6公分的氣管植入，術後順利恢復中。目前她仍需依賴呼吸器，但呼吸已正常許多，顯示氣管已發揮功用。院方指出，漢娜的喉頭也發育不全，影響發聲，未來須接受發聲復健。
她的父母戴洛華倫和李泳美（音譯）蒐集資料，發現義大利醫師馬奇亞里尼（Paolo Macchiarini）專精幹細胞培育器官的移植手術，但無法負擔到他任職的瑞典醫院動手術的龐大開銷。
此時美國伊利諾州兒童醫院醫師霍特曼伸出援手，讓漢娜到美國接受手術，邀馬奇亞里尼執刀，且費用由院方負責。
漢娜上月9日接受9個小時手術，用她的幹細胞培養出長約7.6公分的氣管植入，術後順利恢復中。目前她仍需依賴呼吸器，但呼吸已正常許多，顯示氣管已發揮功用。院方指出，漢娜的喉頭也發育不全，影響發聲，未來須接受發聲復健。
盼有童年生活
華倫夫婦前天出席記者會感謝各界幫助，也盼漢娜復元順利。戴洛說：「我們覺得她重生了，希望她以後能像一般小孩一樣，什麼事都能做。」
漢娜上月接受自體幹細胞培養氣管移植手術。美聯社報你知 氣管發育不全 新生兒罕病
氣管發育不全（tracheal agenesis）是罕見且危險的先天性疾病，每5萬名新生兒中約有1例，新生兒通常外觀無異常，但有明顯發紺（因缺氧而皮膚發青）、心跳減慢及哭不出聲等症狀。為漢娜執刀前，馬奇亞里尼曾參與14例以幹細胞培育氣管的移植手術。其中，5人使用自體幹細胞培養的氣管，另9人則使用捐贈幹細胞培養的氣管。
