Bioartificial tracheobronchial transplantation. Interview with Paolo Macchiarini.
We caught up with Paolo Macchiarini to find out more about the international collaboration responsible for creating and implanting the world's first artificial trachea in June 2011. Paolo Macchiarini, Professor at the Karolinska University Hospital and Karolinska Institutet (Stockholm, Sweden), has dedicated his career to improving the outcomes of tracheal transplant patients. He became well known in the regenerative medicine field in 2008 when he performed the first adult stem cell-grown trachea transplant and has since carried out several transplants using decellularized deceased donor trachea reseeded with the patient's own cells. In June 2011, Macchiarini led an international team to successfully implant an artificial trachea, seeded with autologous stem cells, in a human patient, a world first. The patient, a 36-year-old manHolmium:YAG laser ureterolithotripsy.
To report on the experience obtained in the treatment of a series of 150 cases of ureteral stone disease by means of the holmium:yttrium-aluminum-garnet (Ho:YAG) laser. One hundred and fifty consecutive cases treated by means of Ho:YAG laser ureterolithotripsy have been reviewed in order to assess the results. In 81 cases the stones were located in the lower third, in 47 in the medium third, and in 22 cases in the upper third of the ureter. The laser was set at a power of 8-10 W and at a frequency of between 6 and 10 Hz. Thin ureteroscopes were selected, such as the 7-Fr Gautier or the new ultrathin 4.8-Fr Wolf instrument. In some cases other ureteroscopes were chosen. Lasertripsy was effective in every kind of