Breast Cancer - Repair is Possible

Australian scientists to start 'breast regrowth' trial


Scientists in Australia are preparing to begin trials of a revolutionary surgery that could enable cancer victims to regrow their breasts after undergoing a mastectomy.



By Bonnie Malkin in Sydney
12 Nov 2009
The Telegraph




It is hoped that if successful, the experimental stem cell breast-growing technique - called Neopec - could replace breast reconstructions and implants within three years.

Dr Phillip Marzella from the Bernard O'Brien Institute of Microsurgery in Melbourne, said a prototype trial of five to six women would start in the next three to six months "to demonstrate that the body can regrow its own fat supply in the breast".

Cancer patients with dense breasts 'at greater danger of disease returning' During the world-first trial surgeons will implant a chamber containing a sample of the woman's fat tissue into the chest, which will act a "scaffolding" into which new breast tissue will grow.

"What we are hoping to do in the next two years is develop a biodegradable chamber so that the fat can grow inside the chamber and then the chamber will vanish naturally," Dr Marzella said.

"Nature abhors a vacuum, so the chamber itself, because it is empty, it tends to be filled in by the body."

Dr Marzella said the new breasts would feel normal to the patient.

The trial is believed to be just the second time in the world tissue engineering has been carried out in a human.

Prof Wayne Morrison, a Bernard O'Brien director, said using the stem cells from the patient's own fat to regenerate body parts was a huge advancement on current techniques, which try to repair or cover-up damage.

The regrowth process involves surgeons implanting a biodegradable synthetic breast-shaped chamber beneath the skin.

They then connect a blood vessel from the woman's underarm to the fat tissue allowing it to grow to fill the chamber within six to eight months.

The fat tissue stops growing when it reaches the chamber walls to ensure the desired shape and size.

The technique has already been proved in pigs, which grew new breasts in just six weeks.

Dr Marzella said the process could take longer in women because humans stop growing at adolescence.

However, his team has already developed a dissolvable gel to stimulates fat growth in the chamber and speed up the formation of the new breast.

Dr Marzella said the technique could also be used to regrow other organs.

"We are hoping to move on to other organs using the same principle - a chamber that protects and contains cells as they grow and they restore their normal function.

"So it is a pretty major leap for regenerative surgery and medicine."

He said the procedure could replace breast reconstructions and implants within three years if it works.

"Certainly it doesn't relieve [patients] of the trauma of the cancer but certainly it could be offering patients an alternative and some sort of relief from the diagnosis of breast cancer to know that they can regrow the breast."

The procedure also has potential in reconstructive therapy for defects in the future, but Dr Marzella said he did not envisage it being used for cosmetic purposes in the next 10 years.

All of the women taking part in the trial have had a mastectomy or partial mastectomy. The trial will not seek to grow a whole breast, but grow fat in the defected area to prove the procedure is viable.

Breast cancer is the most common form of the disease among women worldwide and the leading cause of female cancer fatalities.







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