On January 18, in an interview with a reporter, Dr. Tran Cong Toai, Deputy Head of the Embryology Department at the Ho Chi Minh City Center for Training and Continuing Medical Education, stated that the Biological Materials Laboratory has preserved over 10,000 skull fragments after about five years of operation.
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A skull fragment of a patient preserved at -85 degrees Celsius in the Biological Materials Laboratory. (Photo: VietNamNet) |
The Biological Materials Laboratory has been developing a preservation program for skull fragments since the 2000s. The preserved fragments are intended for re-transplantation to the same patients.
The skull fragments preserved here come from individuals involved in traffic accidents or patients who have undergone neurosurgery.
Dr. Toai mentioned that the laboratory is also prepared to accept donated skull fragments; however, so far, no donations have been made.
By 2005, over 5,000 cases had successfully undergone re-transplantation using the preserved skull samples from this facility.
Dr. Toai emphasized that the Biological Materials Laboratory only engages in bone preservation for scientific research purposes, charging patients a small fee of approximately 100,000-200,000 VND for storage.
Overall, the average cost of preserving skull fragments at the Biological Materials Laboratory is around 80,000 VND per month.
In cases where immediate surgery is not necessary or the medical condition does not allow for immediate intervention, surgeons may opt to preserve the skull fragment intended for transplant. The fragment will be stored in this laboratory with the consent of the patient or their relatives.
According to neurosurgeons, preserving a skull fragment and later transplanting it back to the patient offers numerous benefits for both the patient and the medical field.
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Dr. Tran Cong Toai beside the “mini skull bank” (Photo: VietNamNet) |
Firstly, regarding rejection risks, since the transplant material comes from the patient’s own body, there is no risk of foreign body rejection when it is reintroduced into the body.
Additionally, synthetic materials created for transplantation can cost up to 3 million VND. Therefore, socially, using the patient’s own skull for grafting has saved approximately 15 billion VND for 5,000 graft cases over the past five years.
The preserved skull fragments are stored under cold conditions at temperatures of -80 degrees Celsius or lower. Current preservation techniques allow for the preservation of a patient’s skull fragment for up to five years.
Moreover, the laboratory is equipped with all necessary preservation equipment and chemicals, ready to establish another bank for cornea preservation.
In the future, the laboratory plans to enhance research on fibroblast cell cultures. The next step will involve grafting cells onto coral to improve graft effectiveness.
As early as 2006, the Biological Materials Laboratory will collaborate with MSc. Phan Kim Ngoc from the Ho Chi Minh City University of Science to research stem cells.
Huong Cat
