When was the first successful human trachea transplant performed?

In 2008, surgeons implanted a trachea grown from a donor scaffold seeded with the patient’s own cells in Barcelona. This was a landmark in regenerative medicine because the airway had to function immediately after surgery. The case was led by Paolo Macchiarini and colleagues, though later parts of the broader field became highly controversial. Even so, the procedure marked a major moment in efforts to engineer replacement organs.