Four teenage girls given lab-grown vaginas

Laboratory-grown vaginas engineered from patients’ own cells have successfully been implanted into four teenage girls.

Tests showed the organs, constructed from muscle cells and the epithelial cells which line body cavities, functioned normally.

The girls, who were aged 13 to 18 at the time of the surgery, were born with Mayer-Rokitansky-Kuster-Hauser (MRKH) syndrome.

In women with the rare genetic condition the vagina and uterus are under-developed or absent.

“This pilot study is the first to demonstrate that vaginal organs can be constructed in the lab and used successfully in humans,” said lead researcher Dr Anthony Atala, from Wake Forest Baptist Medical Centre in Winston-Salem, US.

“This may represent a new option for patients who require vaginal reconstructive surgeries. In addition, this study is one more example of how regenerative medicine strategies can be applied to a variety of tissues and organs.”

A questionnaire assessment showed sexual function was normal after treatment, the researchers reported in The Lancet medical journal.

Cells were grown in the laboratory before being placed on a biodegradable scaffold that was hand-sewn into the correct shape. Each scaffold was tailor-made to fit the patient.