A 10-year-old boy’s stem cells have been used to replace his windpipe in an operation, which can bring a revolution in transplant surgery. The boy, who is still unidentified, is recovering at Great Ormond Street children's hospital, in London.

He was not able to breathe unaided, as he was born with a windpipe that was 1mm across.

The operation went on for 9 long hours on Monday at Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children in London. A bioengineering trachea, which belonged to a 30-year-old Italian woman who died in an accident, was transplanted into him, so that he is able to breathe unaided.

Enzymes were used to strip the windpipe of all living cells that would activate immune rejection in the recipient, in the meantime, retaining the fine molecular structure, which is essential for cellular re-growth.

The boy was doing well on Friday, four days after he got operated.

Professor Martin Birchall, the head of translational regenerative medicine at University College London shared that it is for the first time that a child has received stem cell organ treatment and the airway which has been replaced is the longest ever airway.

Birchall said, “We need to conduct more clinical trials to demonstrate that this concept works. We'd like to move to other organs as well, particularly the larynx and oesophagus. We need to think about how to make regenerative medicine a part of healthcare”.