Doctors Conduct First-Ever 'Science Fiction' Bone Regrowth Surgery On Patient

An Israeli man is the first patient ever to receive a surgical procedure Tuesday to regrow part of his bone, according to reports. After a car accident eight months prior, the male patient had part of his shin bone removed. Surgeons were able to successfully tend to his injury with a procedure that's being deemed as "science fiction."

The operation was developed several years back by Bonus BioGroup, an Israel-based biotechnology company that utilizes technology to generate tissue-regenerating bone grafts. The company's medical team harvested fat tissue cells from the man's leg and grew them in their lab. The fat cells were then injected back into the man's leg to regenerate the bone's missing parts.

"We created thousands of tiny bone particles, each one of them alive, which enables us to inject them into the missing part where they join together to form a fully functional bone," said Dr. Shai Meretzky, CEO of Bonus BioGroup, according to The Times of Israel. "Our patient arrived with a missing part in his shinbone that his body could not regenerate on its own. In the surgery I transplanted the cells we extracted from him two weeks ago, and within six weeks the bone will regrow itself and his shin will function normally again."

"This surgery is truly science fiction, it changes the entire game in orthopedics. Today I have the ability to grow any bone in a lab," Meretzky added.

The procedure's success resulted in the company's stock rising. Bonus BioGroup's stock was up Wednesday by 18.66 percent on the Tel Aviv Stock exchange at market close, according to CTech.

Bonus BioGroup's procedure won't hit the market right away, however. Since the procedure occurred earlier this week, it remains unknown whether the implant was properly absorbed by the body and not rejected. Therefore, more clinical trials will need to be run to determine the procedure's overall effectiveness. The biotechnology company's creation still proves to be a promising development to surface from the ongoing research of stem cell treatments.

Australian scientists found a similar way to reprogram fat cells or an adult's bone in 2016 through a new stem cell treatment. Like Bonus BioGroup's procedure, it could provide a way to regenerate any form of damaged tissue in the body. Clinical trials for this procedure were expected to begin in 2017.

Further research conducted into the effectiveness of stem cells could provide potential solutions for health conditions such as diabetes, Alzheimer's and Parkinson's, among other diseases without a cure. Former President George W. Bush vetoed a Bill from Senate in 2001 that would have pushed for more funding being put into stem cell research, but former President Barack Obama overturned Bush's regulation in 2009.

"Medical miracles do not happen simply by accident," Obama said of the lift in 2009, according to NPR. "They result from painstaking and costly research; from years of lonely trial and error, much of which never bears fruit and from a government willing to support that work."