Sweden trial starts in stem-cell windpipe transplants case
A surgeon who made headlines in 2011 for carrying out the world’s first stem-cell windpipe transplants at Sweden’s leading hospital is on trial accused of aggravated assault against three of his patients
![Sweden Windpipe](https://static.independent.co.uk/2022/04/27/10/Sweden_Windpipe_43295.jpg)
Your support helps us to tell the story
As your White House correspondent, I ask the tough questions and seek the answers that matter.
Your support enables me to be in the room, pressing for transparency and accountability. Without your contributions, we wouldn't have the resources to challenge those in power.
Your donation makes it possible for us to keep doing this important work, keeping you informed every step of the way to the November election
![Head shot of Andrew Feinberg](https://static.independent.co.uk/static-assets/support-us/andrew-feinberg.png)
Andrew Feinberg
White House Correspondent
An Italian surgeon who made headlines in 2011 for carrying out the world’s first stem-cell windpipe transplants at Sweden's leading hospital went on trial Wednesday accused of aggravated assault against three of his patients.
Stem-cell scientist Dr. Paolo Macchiarini, who was once considered a leading figure in regenerative medicine, is credited with creating the world’s first windpipe partially made from a patient’s own stem cells.
In December 2018, Sweden decided to reopen a previously discontinued investigation into three cases. Additional written evidence was obtained, and more interviews were held with individuals in Sweden, Belgium, Britain, the United States and Spain.
The former surgeon appeared at the Solna District Court Wednesday but is first expected to be a witness Friday. His defense lawyer, Björn Hurtig, believes Macchiarini's former employer, Sweden’s prestigious Karolinska Institute, should be held responsible, Swedish broadcaster SVT said.
Macchiarini was fired from Karolinska Institute in March 2016 for breaching medical ethics after being accused of falsifying his resume and misrepresenting his work.
When Macchiarini’s first windpipe transplant was reported in the medical journal Lancet in 2008, it was hailed as a breakthrough in regenerative medicine. Macchiarini’s new airway — partly made using stem cells from the patient — was thought to herald a new era where new organs could be made in the laboratory.
Despite an independent commission in Sweden that found numerous problems in Macchiarini’s work, the Lancet has so far declined to retract the study.
Macchiarini earlier had disputed the accusations, saying they were false.
He operated on 20 patients Macchiarini to provide them with an artificial windpipe — from countries including Spain, Russian, Iceland, Britain and the U.S. Critics say Macchiarini skirted medical ethics to carry out dangerous procedures with no proven benefit and that he fabricated descriptions of his patients’ conditions.
In 2019, an Italian court sentenced Macchiarini to 16 months in prison for forging documents and abuse of office.
Subscribe to Independent Premium to bookmark this article
Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? Start your Independent Premium subscription today.