Engineering Transplantable Organoids for Children with Pediatric Disorders: Organoids in Pediatric Surgery
摘要
Organoid technology is rapidly transforming the landscape of pediatric surgery by offering unprecedented opportunities in regenerative medicine, patient-specific modeling, and surgical planning. Derived from pluripotent or tissue-specific stem cells, organoids replicate key structural and functional aspects of developing organs, making them particularly valuable in the context of pediatric and fetal biology. In regenerative medicine, organoids provide a foundation for creating tissue-engineered grafts tailored for congenital anomalies such as intestinal atresia, biliary malformations, or bladder exstrophy. Fetal organoids, which mimic early-stage organ development, enable researchers to investigate the pathogenesis of congenital conditions and optimize the timing and strategy for in utero or early-life interventions. In pediatric oncology, tumor-derived organoids offer platforms for studying rare childhood cancers and testing targeted therapies in a patient-specific manner, advancing the goals of precision medicine. Furthermore, organoids are beginning to support personalized surgical planning, by modeling the anatomical and functional variations in diseased tissues prior to complex operations. As the field progresses, future pediatric surgery research will likely focus on integrating organoid-based diagnostics, drug screening, and bio-fabrication technologies to develop living implants and optimize post-operative outcomes. Ultimately, organoids hold the potential to revolutionize pediatric surgical care by bridging developmental biology with clinical innovation in a child-centered framework.