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21 - Regenerative medicine

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  30 October 2009

By
Heather L. Greenwood  and
Abdallah S. Daar
Edited by
Peter A. Singer  and
A. M. Viens
Heather L. Greenwood
Affiliation:
University of Toronta, Canada
Abdallah S. Daar
Affiliation:
Professor University of Toronto, Canada
Peter A. Singer
Affiliation:
University of Toronto
A. M. Viens
Affiliation:
University of Oxford
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Summary

A 56-year-old man with severe angina pectoris visits a cardiac specialist for a consultation. During the course of the examination, the patient excitedly describes a story from the news about an experimental gene therapy that aims to stimulate new blood vessel growth in patients with coronary artery disease. He feels that such therapy could dramatically improve his condition and expresses a strong desire to enroll in the clinical trial. The clinician has some familiarity with the details of the trial and wonders how she should counsel her patient.

A 24-year-old woman with abnormal bladder development and function resulting from spina bifida visits her physician for a routine check-up. The patient would also like to discuss a new therapy she has heard about that involves the growth of a replacement bladder for transplantation using the patient's own cells. This therapy has been successfully applied in a number of other patients with spina bifida. Her physician wonders how to approach the discussion with his patient.

What is regenerative medicine?

Regenerative medicine has been the focus of substantial funding and research efforts worldwide (Attorney General of California, 2004; Greenwood et al., 2006). Additionally, it has engaged public attention through highly publicized political debates (Press, 2006; Wagner, 2006), media accounts of “miracle” cures (Kuntzman, 2004), and strong lobbying from voluntary health organizations (Perry, 2000). As a newly emerging and evolving field, there is to date no consensus definition of regenerative medicine (Mironov et al., 2004).

Type
Chapter
Information
The Cambridge Textbook of Bioethics , pp. 153 - 159
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2008

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