‘Pixie dust’ to replace missing parts of the body
May 30, 2008
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (WiredPRNews.com) — This story seems more of a fairy tale than a reality, but modern science seems to have taken a new trek into the unknown. Last week, an American soldier who was badly wounded underwent a medical procedure that helped him to re-grow a new finger that he accidentally lost in a Baghdad bomb attack. Doctors applied a medicinal powder to Sgt. Shiloh Harris’ finger so as to replace the missing finger of his body.
According to Harris’ surgeon, Steven Wolf, this technique of applying a medicinal powder in order to re-grow or replace a missing part of the body is just like a science fiction. As pursued by the Cleveland Clinic, the Pentagon and the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, this surgery comes under the regenerative medical study and a very large number of people have been devoted to this medical research of replacing missing parts of the body.
Another instance of this research can be seen when Sgt. Israel Del Toro, a wounded vet, burnt both of his hands in an Afghanistan bomb attack. After the accident, he asked his doctor to cut off the injured arm but his doctors believed that there will be some amputation treatment that would help in replacing or re-growing his fingers of the injured arm.
The powder that is applied to the injured body part is popularly known by the name of ‘pixie dust’ as it is extracted from the tissue of the pigs. This powder works wonder by making the body re-grow the missing body part rather than re-growing it of its own. A large number of people have benefited from this medical treatment and it is hoped that it will continue to even help in replacing kidneys and hearts of the patients in order to give them a problem-free life.
Wired Medical Reporter
