Heart transfers have
been part of the medical scene for a good chunk of my life.
Donated hearts, along
with other organs, used to be (and still are) ‘harvested’ from a donor, packed
in ice and rushed to the recipient. But the waiting list is loooong, and many
people die while waiting for a new heart.
Australian doctors
have harvested a heart from the recently deceased - 20 minutes or less - placed
the heart in a special fluid, resuscitated it, and kept it beating until it was placed in the recipient patient.
They have done this 3
times. The first 2 recipients were doing well, the most recent patient was
still in intensive care after the surgery. The doctors stated that with this
process, with the heart actively beating right up until placed in the new body,
they know the heart is good, that it hasn’t deteriorated past the point of use.
When I mentioned this
article to my husband, he made some comment about, ‘Dr Frankenstein must be
living in Australia these days.’ Always ready to see the funny side.
I found this report a
bit creepy, when I first read it. But after further reflection, it dawned on me
that all donated hearts come from dead people. Nobody has a spare one they can
donate while still alive. If anything, the brain dead person who is still
breathing and heart is still pumping through artificial stimulation is slightly
closer to being alive than the gruesomely decapitated person from the car accident
that just happened on Interstate 2 (for example). So the idea lost its
creepiness.
In the old method,
the heart dies as soon as it is removed, and it remains dead until it is sewn
into the new person and jolted back to life. In the new method, the heart still
dies, but it is resuscitated and nourished until time to sew it in the new
person. The patient still gets a formerly-dead heart, but it hasn’t been ‘dead’
for as long.
Okay, I was wrong.
Thinking about it like that makes both ways creepy. But it works, and if it
saves more lives without costing any extra lives, then I’m all for it.
I still think the
ideal thing to do would be to take some cells from the patient who needs a new
organ, put those cells in a nutrient bath and coax them into growing a new
heart/liver/whatever for that patient. I would think that would avoid rejection,
too. Maybe they’ll get to that, some day.
While I’m waiting,
I’m making a list of the parts I’d like grown for me. Let’s see, both knees,
right shoulder, pancreas, gall bladder... Since I’m making a list, is there
anything you’d like to order?
