I saw the documentary about the fraud surgeon in Europe that used plastic tracheas. They had no way to “connect” to the patients body or get a blood supply. But….. theoretically speaking, why would a transplanted trachea even need a blood supply? Its entire job is just to stay there as an opening for air to come in and out, it doesn’t actually do anything.
In: Biology
Our native tracheas are living tissue. Cartilage, connective tissue, endothelial lining. All are living cells with extracellular matrix (structural elements that reside outside of the cells) that is made by the cells. The endothelial lining has cells with tiny hairs (“cilia”) that move secretions northward, so we can keep the respiratory tract clean. That requires metabolic energy to be expended by the cells. All those cells need nutrition, which comes from the blood supply.
Doesn’t actually doo anything doesn’t mean they aren’t alive. Any living tissues require circulation supply to stay alive.
The transplanted trachea isn’t completely plastic, synthetic material only serves as a temproary frame, stem cells grafted onto the frame is expected to grow into useful tissue and form a new real trechea, which apparently didn’t work if the living tissue did not receive enough circulation.
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