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Sunday, Sep 9, 2012 5:03 PM UTC

AP IMPACT: Surprising methods heal wounded troops

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Topics: From the Wires,

AP IMPACT: Surprising methods heal wounded troopsIn this July 2, 2012 copy photo a chart provided by the Laboratory for Tissue Engineering and Organ Fabrication at Massachusetts General Hospital, depicts the progression, from left to right, of implanted tissue engineered for ear development and construction, at the lab in Boston. Scientists are growing ears, bone and skin in the lab, and doctors are planning more face transplants and other extreme plastic surgeries. Around the country, the most advanced medical tools that exist are now being deployed to help America's newest veterans and wounded troops. (AP Photo/Laboratory for Tissue Engineering and Organ Fabrication at Massachusetts General Hospital)(Credit: AP)

BOSTON (AP) — Some of the most advanced medical tools that exist are now being deployed to help America’s new veterans and wounded troops.

An Associated Press review of progress from a government-funded effort found surprising feats of surgery and bioengineering.

In Boston, scientists grew human ears in the lab and hope to test them on disfigured troops in about a year. In Pittsburgh, doctors used pig tissue to help regrow part of a thigh muscle that a Marine lost to a bomb. In San Antonio and other cities, doctors are testing sprayed-on skin cells and lab-made sheets of skin to heal burns and other wounds.

Taxpayers funded much of this work, through the Armed Forces Institute of Regenerative Medicine, a coalition of top universities and medical centers.

More Marilynn Marchione.

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