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.
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