Regrowing tissues.

..........it's possible nearly 50 percent of Hernandez's muscle could regenerate by the time the healing process is over. In addition to muscle regeneration, researchers say the ECM has been effective for regenerating the human esophagus.

..........extracellular matrix [ECM] It’s a biologic compound made from harvested pig bladder. When doctors place the powder or patch near a wound, it dissolves quickly, and signals to the human body to begin generating new cells.

Reported November 5, 2010

Powder Regenerates Muscle

PITTSBURGH (Ivanhoe Newswire) -- They return home, missing a piece of themselves. Soldiers who've been injured in war now have a new ally in the lab: a powder that helps them regenerate the body parts they lost. It sounds like science fiction, but now, a new compound is making a world of difference for the injured.

Marine Corporal Isaias Hernandez credits a television with saving his life-- and a cutting edge biologic powder with giving him a second chance.

Hernandez was returning to his convoy in Iraq holding a TV. It doubled as a shield and protected his vital organs during a sudden mortar attack.

"Pretty much anything that wasn’t covered, arms and legs was hit," Hernandez told Ivanhoe.

He lost 90 percent of the muscle in his right leg.

"Standing up from a sitting position; I would have to pop up. I would have to fall into the seat, rather than just sitting in it," Hernandez recalled.

Dozens of surgeries to repair the muscle didn’t work. So Hernandez agreed to an experimental procedure to regenerate his quadriceps. Researchers are testing a material they call the extracellular matrix or ECM. It’s a biologic compound made from harvested pig bladder. When doctors place the powder or patch near a wound, it dissolves quickly, and signals to the human body to begin generating new cells. The ECM forms the framework that cells latch onto as they divide, and reform functioning tissue and muscle.

"That’s the thing that we’re the most excited about. How the new tissue integrates into the remaining tissue that’s present," Steve Badylak, DVM, Ph.D., M.D., professor of surgery at McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine at the University of Pittsburgh.

Two months after surgery, a scan showed new muscle growth. Eighteen months later, about 20 percent of his missing quad is back. Corporal Hernandez wants to improve enough to remain on active duty.

"I went there on deployment, but I wasn’t able to finish it. I want to do at least one tour, if I can, before it’s all over," Hernandez concluded.

Doctors say it's possible nearly 50 percent of Hernandez's muscle could regenerate by the time the healing process is over. In addition to muscle regeneration, researchers say the ECM has been effective for regenerating the human esophagus.

prpesophagus  prpmuscles prpregeneration