SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
A surgeon who moved to Russia after being fired from a Swedish hospital has lost his Russian Science Foundation grant, following the retraction of a Nature Communications paper:
After Paolo Macchiarini's star fell in Sweden, the Italian surgeon still had a place to shine: Russia. The Karolinska Institute (KI) in Stockholm fired him in March 2016 for multiple ethical violations, including "breach of KI's fundamental values" and "scientific negligence." But Russia had long showered Macchiarini with funding and opportunities to perform his experimental surgeries to implant artificial tracheas, and it allowed him to stay. Now, a year later, his Russian refuge has ended as well.
On 30 March, it became clear that the Russian Science Foundation (RSF) would not renew its funding for Macchiarini's work, which now focuses on the esophagus rather than the trachea. The decision came 9 days after Nature Communications retracted a paper by Macchiarini [open, DOI: 10.1038/ncomms15077] [DX] that documented successful esophagus transplantations in rats. Minutes of a meeting made public last week show that Kazan Federal University (KFU), Macchiarini's current employer, decided to end his research project there on 20 April, effectively firing him.
[...] Once considered a pioneer of regenerative surgery, Macchiarini aimed to give patients whose tracheas had been damaged a new windpipe. "Seeded" with stem cells, it was supposed to grow into a new, fully functional organ. (He initially used donor tracheas as a basis, but later switched to an artificial scaffold.) But he has been accused of painting a false picture of his patients in scientific papers, several of which have been retracted; operating without ethical approval; and lying on his CV. At least six of the eight artificial trachea recipients have died. In Sweden, where the case has plunged science into a crisis, investigations continue into allegations including involuntary manslaughter.
This isn't our first encounter with Dr. Macchiarini.
(Score: 4, Informative) by kaszz on Saturday May 20 2017, @12:27PM (1 child)
From what I know..
* He threatened patients to undergo his procedure or else their prognosis would not be good. But in reality they would most likely been better of without his intervention.
* His trachea implants gave complications that eventually led to the death of at least six patients. Yeşim Çetirin is known to suffered through torturous intensive care for five years and she died 26-years old in 2017.
* Cellular and animal experimental data were not produced which would have stopped the operations because it would then be known it doesn't work properly. Mucus membrane does not form on the plastic graft.
* People at KI right up to the principal let all checks that should have stopped this to slip away. CV were not checked either.
* Two persons in the judging panel for Nobel Prize in Medicine resigned. In addition the secretary resigned too.
* He's under investigation for manslaughter and bodily harm at KI.
Patient outcomes:
Claudia - need contnous inserts of biodegradable stents in the trachea.
Ciaran - no report of failure.
Keziah - death by pneumonia.
Zjadyra - poor state of health, unable to speak and bedridden, without insurance.
Andemariam - implanted became loose and patient died.
Christopher - died 4 months after the surgery.
Yulia - plagued with chronic inflammation and fungi, essentially rotting from the inside and died.
Alexander - died in a bicycle accident.
Yesim - airways had to be cleared every four hours to avoid asphyxiation and died.
Hannah - died of other causes?
Sadiq - possible dead.
Dmitri - lives with tracheotomy.
I'm impressed that the Russian university even touched this surgeon.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 20 2017, @03:47PM
Sounds like this guy is The Best at surgery. Does Trump have a surgeon general yet? I think we have a candidate. Bonus: already speaks Russian.