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A 30-year-old Spanish woman has made medical history by becoming the first patient to receive a whole organ transplant grown using her own stem cells. Experts said the development opened a new era in surgery in which the repair of worn-out body parts would be carried out with personally customised replacements.
Claudia Castillo, who lives in Barcelona, underwent the operation to replace her windpipe after tuberculosis had left her with a collapsed lung and unable to breathe. The bioengineered organ was transplanted into her chest last June at the Hospital Clinic in Barcelona.

Four months later she was able to climb two flights of stairs, go dancing and look after her children – activities that had been impossible before the surgery. Miss Castillo has also crossed a second medical frontier by becoming the first person to receive a whole organ transplant without the need for powerful immunosuppressant drugs.....