First a Japanese scientist found a way to create "ethical" stem cells. Now scientists have discovered the secret to engineered blood vessels - a signal that the era of organ donations may soon be over.

WebMD reports that California scientists were able to create blood vessels using cells gathered from 10 adult patients suffering from end-stage renal disease. These cells were separated into test tubes in a lab and "coaxed...to grow into blood vessels," at which point they were implanted back into the patients' bodies.

A year later, the results are promising - though data is not yet back on four of the 10 patients. Three patients have experienced no problem with their new blood vessels; another patient used the lab-made blood vessels until receiving a kidney transplant; and a fifth patient died of unrelated causes. The engineered blood vessels failed in only one patient.

"This new approach may be feasible," the scientists told The New England Journal of Medicine.