I doubt it for someone my age. I'm 57 years old and don't think I'd want to go through the grief.

It would be amazing!

I am quite happy with my j pouch. Even if something like that could be done, I wouldn't put myself through that. Doing fine without my colon.

Nope. No surgery and transplantation for me, either. I still have my wonky IBD DNA, who is to say I just wouldn't end up with colitis again, either?

You'd need more than a replacement colon. You'd need to hook up a very complex blood supply and innumerable connections to the nervous system. This is many times harder than a kidney.

A kid with FAP had a colon transplant. Nobody told the family that FAP still grows polyps in a colon and he did end up dying still from this disease. I am not sure if UC would return with a new colon. I ask weird "what if" questions all the time. Like down the road in the future what if someone had a full body transplant. Would that person still have FAP, Chron's, etc. I always think of interesting things and things that don't make sense to me since I am not a scientist.

2 people (GI scientists/researchers) recently have crated external sphincters with stem cells and had them in mice (internal hasn't been done yet) and are planning on doing human trials soon. Mainly people with damaged ones. They are going to do bladder ones next in hopes to help people with IC or damage from childbirth,etc.

I actually reached out to both asking if in the future if they thought we would be able to grow rectums and all with stem cells. They have grown many other things with stem cells.

Here is a good article that was written recently relating to it. Last paragrpah is interesting.
http://news.unchealthcare.org/...013/april/stem-cells

I would do it tomorrow if given the chance but I never had a bad colon so this set up now that I have I hate.

That would be two miraculous breakthroughs - basically a cure for UC AND a regenerated colon.

Honestly, I'm not sure I'd want my colon (or any colon) back. My pouch functions well. Also, considering this were indeed possible, you'd need a major surgery to remove the pouch and then perhaps another major surgery to transplant the colon.

I've had enough surgery and illness and downtime to last me a lifetime. I'll pass.

I have had maybe 12 surgeries in my lifetime. I believe if you hate what you have and can change it then surgery is just surgery and that is elective for a reason. I'd pay good money to take a normal dump again.

With over 50 surgeries under my belt and a colon that was removed over 30yrs ago, I wouldn't really know what to do with a colon if they served it to me on a silver platter...and since I have a BB they would have to reconstruct everything from scratch...I am too tired to live through that big a surgery again just for the chance to be made 'normal' again...I just want a healthy pouch with good function and the chance to live the rest of my life without pain and suffering...but I can understand anyone who is unhappy with their pouch or ostomy and wants their colon back.
I guess if my pouch was failing I would grasp at any option to find perfect health again...for now, I will leave it to the more couragous among us.
Sharon

I don't want it back. I would stay with what I have. There would be too much involved and we are many years away from being able to have a meaningful, concrete discussion about the feasibility of such a thing. This is sort of venturing into an area that at the moment is science fiction. Having the colon that you describe is sort of like, in my mind, putting an alien into my body and growing it. Which reminds me that in the science fiction movie "Prometheus", one of the characters gives herself an emergency C-section after she discovers she is pregnant with a rapidly maturing baby alien. We can also speculate, hypothetically, on what would have happened to her, had she not given herself the emergency C-section. Would the alien have left the womb in a normal but very painful fashion like a human baby when it is born, or burst through her abdomen with no regard to the life of the mother? These are questions we can ponder, but never know the answer to. Unless they make a sequel to the movie and give us the answer.

There is a seguel to "Prometheus." it is called "Alien," which was made in the 70's. "Prometheus" was the 'prequel.'

But yeah, there really is very little incentive to replace the colon with a manufactured one, since you can live quite well without it. Small intestine? That is another story, and it is necessary to sustain life. That is why they do small bowel transplants in rare instances.

Jan

quote:

There is a seguel to "Prometheus." it is called "Alien," which was made in the 70's. "Prometheus" was the 'prequel.'

Yes, you are correct, and there is sort of an answer in the movie "Alien". And I had never thought of that before.

But there is a "Prometheus 2" due out in 2015, and that is the sequel I was thinking of when I posted. Here is the "Prometheus 2" website - they are calling the movie a sequel to "Prometheus":

http://www.prometheus2-movie.com/

So what we are getting is two sequels for the price of one, the first which occurred in 1979 and the second due out in 2015, although I think the next one is supposed to precede the first one, if that makes sense.

Yeah, OK, but I doubt they will be engineering colons or other organs in the movie, so we are getting a bit off track here.

Back to the idea of tissue engineering, there have been several topics on this subject over the years, and they always wind up with the notion that there just is not the dire need for the colon. But, there is research into small bowel for folks with Crohn's or other diseases that destroy the small intestine. Maybe once THAT is more or less common place, they MIGHT begin looking at the colon. Who knows? I never thought I would be carrying a computer in my purse and making phone calls on it 30 years ago!

http://www.stmarksfoundation.o...e&cntnt01returnid=77

Jan

I still get the Alien trying to come out of my abdomen feeling every now and then, but not as much as when I had my colon.

I wouldn't mess with that area again! They told me I was getting "cured" with the surgeries and I won't fall for that again.

I'm 24 years old, only 2 months from my takedown...if i was give a high statistic number that i would be more closer to normal than i am now..i would 100% do it, now 6 months to a year down the road, after everything with me has settled even more i might change my tune but i have always wondered the same thing about stem cell engineered colons, scientific america had an article at one point about it.

Ok, so I am very rarely on here any longer, but I was taking a lunch and decided to stop by.

Its been about seven years since I had my successful K-Pouch surgery. I remember talking with Dr. Fazio at the time, and he purposely left parts of my anal musculature (I don't remember specifics), with the thought that some time in the future a colon could be created through stem cell or other therapy. I don't know where the development stands, but at least a number of years ago, it was on the minds of the top surgeons (enough so that his procedure left it open for the future), so I would think that this may still be a possibility.

The new 3D printers are being used in amazing medical applications.

I would think they would hold more hope than stem cells. Maybe in combination with stem cells....?