Girl Who Received Stem Cell-Grown Trachea Dies

Hannah Warren, the youngest individual ever to receive a bionengineered organ, died on Saturday due to complications from surgery.

The toddler born without a trachea was about to turn 3 in August.

During the initial operation on April 9, performed by Dr. Paolo Macchiarini, a specialist in the field of regenerative medicine, Warren received a windpipe made from plastic fibers to which her own cells taken from her bone marrow were added.

The operation also involved surgery on Warren's esophagus, however, which never healed properly, prompting surgeons to operate a month later to correct the problem. It was after this procedure that the girl died, according to Dr. Mark J. Holterman, a pediatric surgeon at Children's Hospital of Illinois where Warren was located.

"The trachea was never a problem," Dr. Macchiarini said, according to The New York Times. "It was her native tissue that was fragile."

In fact, the trachea was "performing well," though her lung function "went from fairly good, to weak, to poor," her family said, as reported by ABC News.

Adding that he would continue with similar operations, Macchiarini added, "But all these cases are so complex and difficult."

In a statement issued from the hospital shortly following her death, officials stated that while "regenerative medicine remains in the early stages for pediatric patients, progress is being made. Hannah, and the physicians caring for her, helped advance this area of medical practice which is only at its very beginning stages."

"Our hearts are broken," the girl's family wrote on their GiveForward.com fundraising page. "She is a pioneer in stem-cell technology and her impact will reach all corners of our beautiful Earth ... She's free now and with her Angel Wings she will perform many more miracles in Heaven."

Being born without a windpipe is an extremely rare congenital malformation found in 1 in 50,000 births and is nearly always fatal.