Scientists grew kidneys in the lab that lived 34 weeks, a big step toward solving transplant shortages

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Kidney failure is a medical issue that has led to the death of so many people and if only they had a good replacement after their kidney failed, all those people would have been alive.

There's good reports regarding ways to solve this problem.

Doctors and scientists in Israel have been able to grow human kidneys in the lab that stayed alive and working for 34 weeks, we're looking at more than half a year a lab grown organ has stayed alive.

It's actually a record, it's the longest that lab grown kidneys have ever survived. This particular breakthrough gives real tangible hope for the future of organ transplants.

Right now if you check the statistics, millions of people around the world live with kidney disease. For many of them, the only solution is a transplant, take that option out and it's a one way trip to the grave. But unfortunately there are not enough donor kidneys for everyone who needs them. Some of the patients wait years for a match and others do not even get a chance at all. The case here is that even when a transplant does happen, there are risks like organ rejection or infection to the patient.

That is why this news breakthrough is so important. If doctors can one day grow healthy kidneys in the lab, patients may no longer need to wait for a donor. A new organ could be made from their own cells and that in itself reduces the chance of the body rejecting the new organ introduced. This will inevitably ease the pressure on transplant waiting lists.

You might be wondering exactly how the organ was grown. The team at Sheba Medical Center used special stem cells, which are as they refer to it, starter cells that can grow into many different types of tissue. With the right signals sent to the cells, the cells were guided to form kidney tissue. Of course, these were not full sized kidneys ready for transplant yet, but they worked more like mini organs and were able to filter fluids just like a real kidney and stayed alive in lab conditions for 34 weeks.

To take that progress into perspective, previous attempts at growing kidneys have only lasted a few weeks before breaking down and so that is why reaching 34 weeks is such an important step for all of us. It is good proof that the process can be stable and long lasting.

This discovery does not necessarily mean lab grown kidneys will be in hospitals tomorrow or this year. There is still a lot of work to do before they can be safely transplanted into people. There's going to have to be human trials, some safety checks and years of testing are still needed. But the good part is that for the first time, researchers have shown it is possible to keep these organs alive much longer than before.

This most certainly could be the beginning of a new era in medicine. Instead of relying only on donors, we could one day create organs on demand. If we've been able to grow kidneys in the lab, we will eventually be able to grow all other organs, like the liver, the heart and the lungs. Vitals organs that leads to immediate deah cases whenever they fail.

Kidney disease is no doubt a heavy burden for many families around the world. The Dialysis process, which cleans the blood, takes hours every week and is exhausting for the patients, so a safe, lab grown kidney could give people suffering from kidney problems back their independence and quality of life with good health. This really is some good news right there.