An Omani doctor has been praised for helping to develop new stem cell technology that helped to save a child who swallowed a battery and was rushed to hospital as an emergency case in London.
Doctor Hind Khamis Al Balushi, who is the head of the Stem Cells Engineering and Cellular Therapies Department at The Royal Hospital in the Omani capital Muscat, has helped to develop a way to cultivate stem cells to rebuild non-cellular textures.
The clinical researcher and physician helped to develop the technique while carrying out a dissertation on a study of stem cell cultivation at University College London.
Doctor Hind joined a team of experts based at London University and Royal Free Hospital, who performed the treatment on a child in critical condition after they swallowed a battery and badly injured their trachea.
The expert team then obtained a licence from the UK’s Medicine and Healthcare Regulatory Agency to treat the youngster with the new treatment.
The treatment took place at Royal Free Hospital and Great Ormond Street in London and was deemed successful.
The young patient went on to make a full recovery and it has been three years since the operation took place.
A detailed review of the procedure will appear in the journal Nature Medicine.
Meanwhile, the new technology is now being used in experiments at several hospitals in the UK as well as with an expert drug company.
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Story By: Lee Bullen, Sub-Editor: Marija Stojkoska, Agency: Newsflash
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