Photo: A six-year-old girl has become the first person in the world to have a kidney transplanted in place of her spleen.
The Guinness World Records world record for the First kidneys created by cloning was set by scientists at Advanced Cell Technologies, Massachusetts, USA who announced that they had for the first time successfully grown kidneys using cloning technology. The technique took a DNA-containing nucleus from a single cow skin cell and fused it with a host egg. The egg multiplied into an embryo rich in stem cells. These cells were chemically manipulated to grow into kidney cells, using an artificial kidney-shaped scaffold. Several of these miniature kidneys were grown in this way and transplanted back into the cow, where they began to produce urine.
Guinness World Records also recognized the world record for the most kidney transplants received; it is 7 and was achieved by Bjorn van Empel (Netherlands) of Roosendaal, Holland, Netherlands who received his seventh kidney transplant on 11 March 2014.
The child had been on dialysis since birth because of a rare kidney anomaly and a malformation of the abdominal blood vessels, the Molinette hospital in Turin said in a statement.
The youngster, who was not named, had been unable to either urinate or drink, it said. She was operated on at the end of last week.
“In order to create the necessary space for the new kidney, a revolutionary and innovative technique was applied, with the removal of the spleen,” the hospital said.
“The girl is doing very well, she resumed urinating immediately and can finally drink after six years,” it said.