Injections help injured soldier 'regrow' leg

In a pioneer medical experiment, a US soldier who had lost most of his leg muscle in Afghan war has seen it grow back, providing new hope for thousands of injured soldiers and other fire victims.

Under normal circumstances, Marine Isaias Hernandez, who lost 70 per cent of his right thigh muscles, would have had his leg amputated. But an experimental change in the way injured soldiers are treated led to the wounded warrior being injected with a growth promoting substance extracted from pig bladders, reported Daily Mail.

Successfully regenerating the muscle and the energy to the injured leg of Hernandez, the revolutionary treatment now gives hope to the hundreds of maimed veterans returning from conflicts with severe limb trauma.

What adds to the excitement of scientists is the regeneration of skeletal muscle which ordinarily does not grow back.

Stephen Badylak, the tissue engineering director at the McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine at the University of Pittsburgh said: 'It was a remarkable recovery.'

The experiment has the potential to revolutionise not just how soldiers are treated, but all potential amputees.

The successful surgery means the $70 million investment the US military has made into regenerative medicine research hasn’t gone to waste. In fact, it has opened up new avenues of treatment and hope.

As part of the preparations for the procedure, the 30 per cent muscle left on the damaged thigh was allowed to build up and heal, once that happened surgeons then placed into the thigh a thin slice of a substance called extracellular matrix.