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The University of Virginia in Charlottesville has developed (WO 99/47047) a
safer way to treat aneurysms, tumours and internal bleeding. Usually doctors
force a “vaso-occlusive” device, such as a tiny balloon, into a blood vessel to
relieve pressure or cut off the blood supply. Instead, a platinum coil seeded
with cells genetically modified to secrete growth factors would be inserted into
a vessel to create scar tissue. The cells on the coil are cultured for three
days so that they grow throughout its turns. After insertion in a blood vessel,
the cells grow into the living tissue to form a…