NEW YORK – Sonia Sein said she spent the last six years “trying to catch every breath at every moment" after extensive treatment for her severe asthma damaged her windpipe.
She is breathing freely again after getting an unusual transplant. In January, doctors at New York's Mount Sinai replaced her trachea, the tube that ferries air from the mouth to the lungs.
Doctors say this drastic operation could potentially help other people including COVID-19 patients left with serious windpipe damage from breathing machines. “We’ve talked for 100 years about just putting in a new windpipe,” said University of Washington surgeon Dr.