Pittsburgh powder performs finger 'miracle'

A remarkable medical occurrence in the USA has sparked hopes that regenerative technology can be taken to new levels.

A man in Ohio who lost the tip of his finger to an accident involving a propeller blade has grown it back in full, thanks to a pioneering powder created from substances in a pig's bladder.

After Lee Spievak suffered the accident, his brother Alan who works in regenerative medicine sent him the 'pixie dust' powder – formally known as extra cellular matrix, which had been developed at Dr Stephen Badylak's lab at the University of Pittsburgh.

Mr Spievak said: "The second time I put it on I already could see growth. Each day it was up further. Finally it closed up and was a finger.

"It took about four weeks before it was sealed."

Soon hoping to start a clinical trial on an oesophagus cancer sufferer in Buenos Aires, the process involves scraping the cells from a pig's bladder lining and placing the remaining tissue into acid, where it is cleaned of cells and dried out into a powder.