Scientists reported they have grown new blood vessels with cells from sick older people the type of patients most likely to need such transplants if the technique is perfected. The approach, outlined in The Lancet medical journal this week, could be used for heart or other bypass surgery in the elderly whose own veins may not be suitable. “The ability to grow new vessels from older cells represents a crucial initial step toward growing blood vessels from a patient’s owns cells that can be used to treat that patient’s vascular disease,” said lead researcher Dr. Laura Niklason, an associate professor of anesthesiology and biomedical engineering at Duke University in North Carolina.
