A British View.OK. Bar my previous post, there has actually been some breaking news concerning breasts. Posted a couple hours ago (I figured I’d wait a while after the previous post.) on the guardian’s website, information on a new surgical treatment designed to actually regrow breast tissue, primarily designed for cancer patients.
“Human trials for the procedure, which scientists hope could replace breast reconstructions and implants, will start within three to six months, it was revealed in Melbourne, Australia. It is likely to be three years before the technique is fully developed, researchers said.” - http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2009/nov/12/mastectomy-regrow-breasts-trial
Now, obviously this wont completely remove the worries and stress surrounding a mastectomy, this procedure may help patients towards a more speedy recovery. Actually improving their state of mind and a guide towards looking forward. The technology itself is quite amazing, and although is only in human trials may lead to many other procedures. A step forward in the field.
“Certainly the same principle can be used for defects, so people that might have lost a piece of a face or the end of the nose, we are thinking we can use the same technology using a biodegradable scaffold that can then be filled with the patient’s own tissue and cells,” - Phillip Marzella, of the Bernard O’Brien Institute of Microsurgery
You can read the entire article here, any more quotes and this would just be a reconstruction of the peice.
Personally I find the whole concept amazing, the ability to regrow broken or dead tissue within a human body. Having it done in such a controlled way and without requiring repeat surgeries, it’s almost science fiction and only a couple years away. After these trials have finished I can imagine many different variations on the surgery cropping up all over the medical world and although Marzella doesn’t expect it to be picked up by cosmetic surgery, I would assume they will. The possibilities are just that much too great.
