The Future Is Here Today...Robots, Genetics, AI, Longevity, Singularity

A Tale of Two Windpipes – Determining the Future of Organ Transplants

4 Comments

by Aaron Saenz on January 21st, 2010
newly grown stem cell trachea

This transplant was grown using stem cells and a scaffold derived from a trachea.

Two very different organ transplant stories highlight the amazing skills of surgeons, and the importance of stem cells for the future of surgery. Both transplants involved the trachea, women, and operations in Europe. In the first, Claudia Castillo had a donor’s trachea covered in her own stem cells so that it could be transplanted into her chest as the left bronchus. The second transplant gave Linda de Croock a new trachea by first letting the donor organ acclimate to her body in her arm for ten months. The stem cell treatment was performed by doctors at the University of Bristol (UK) and the Hospital Clinic of Barcelona (Spain) in 2008. The trachea-in-arm treatment was performed at the University Hospital of Leuven (Belgium) and was recently discussed in the New England Journal of Medicine. Comparing these two operations demonstrates the phenomenal capabilities of modern medicine, and shows that stem cells enhance those capabilities in remarkable ways.

Read More

Tooth Transplanted into Eye Helps Cure Blindness

3 Comments

by Aaron Saenz on September 21st, 2009
Kay Thornton became the first US patient to have her vision restored with the help of a tooth transplanted in her eye.

Kay Thornton became the first US patient to have her vision restored with the help of a tooth transplanted in her eye.

When you are blind and trying to restore your sight, you’ll try anything. I mean, anything. US doctors have recently returned a woman’s vision by using a transplanted tooth to help anchor a telescope in her eye. That’s right, a tooth. The procedure took several surgeries at Bascom Palmer Eye Institute in Miami, but it has given Kay Thornton her vision back after nine years of blindness. Check out the clip from NBC Today Show (via Hulu) after the break, apologies for the commercial.

Part of what is remarkable about this surgery is that it’s actually more than 40 years old. Modified osteo-odonto keratoprosthesis (MOOKP) was developed in Italy in the 1960s. It’s been performed around 600 times worldwide, but Thornton is the first US patient. Unlike corneal transplants, MOOKP does not require donor matching as all the tissue comes from the patient herself.

Unlike the other telescope implants we’ve discussed, the MOOKP telescope is simply correcting corneal damage. The rest of the eye is healthy. In Ms. Thornton’s case, the cornea was scarred due to lack of moisture stemming from Stevens-Johnson syndrome.
Read More

The AbioCor Artificial Heart

2 Comments

by Andrew Kessel on June 30th, 2009

Earlier on Singularity Hub, we took a detailed look into the magic of heart replacement surgery (and even growing hearts with stem cells).  It’s a great way to tack on a few extra years to patients who are suffering from heart failure, but what about the other people who are not eligible for a donor heart?  Patients who are in immediate danger of death and have end-stage heart failure on both sides of the organ cannot currently be implanted with donor hearts but they can be given the AbioCor artificial heart.  The AbioCor system uses hydraulic pressure to pump blood between two chambers, simulating the effect of the human heart.  Could the artificial heart put an end to long waiting lists for donor organs?

artificial-heart

The Abiocor artificial heart

The artificial heart has come a long way since its first clinical use in the 1960’s.  Wireless technology and an internal microprocessor make the AbioCor better than its predecessors.  The entire system is implanted during a procedure where the diseased heart is cut out and the arteries are clamped onto the thoracic unit.  Wires are laid in the body down to the abdomen, where the controller and battery are implanted.  Wires then connect the controller to a receiver planted in the chest called the TET, or Transcutaneous Energy Transfer.  Wearing a similar device on the outside of the skin allows for an external battery to power the system without having wires breaking through the patients skin.

The internal battery allows the patient more mobility, as the external power source can disconnected for up to 45 minutes as the patient bathes or conducts other activities of that nature.  Being hooked up to the power isn’t that bad either, as a fanny-pack portable battery system can provide up to four hours of continuous juice before needing to be recharged.  Despite all these seemingly beneficial quality of life improvements, there are still some drawbacks.

Read More

TransMedics: Transplanting a Real Beating Heart

2 Comments

by Andrew Kessel on June 20th, 2009
transmedics_heart_transplant_beating

Insert heart here

You’ve heard a bit about heart transplants and they’re no piece of cake, but now there’s a company out there trying to make it a little bit easier. It’s not an off-color SNL skit, but it is a heart in a box. TransMedics Incorporated has designed a system that allows doctors to transplant still-beating hearts up to 12 hours after they are removed from the donor (compared to the standard 4 to 6 allowed by current technology where they freeze the heart). Yup. Scientists have invented a box that keeps the heart beating outside of the body. Holy crap!

This Massachusetts based company has raised $27.6 million in series B funding. Their proprietary machine pumps warm, nutrient-rich oxygenated blood through the donor heart until it is ready for transplant. The heart is kept in a sterile compartment that simulates the conditions within the human body, allowing it to function normally while outside the body. Along with the life-support systems, the TransMedics machine also has the capabilities for performing the necessary diagnostics that doctors require before the heart is transplanted through the use of a wireless monitor. Take a look at the video and prepare to… woah.

Read More

Man Receives First US Double Hand Transplant

3 Comments

by Drew Halley on May 26th, 2009

Ten years ago, Jeff Kepner lost both his hands and feet to a bacterial infection. Today, he is recovering from the first US double hand transplant surgery. Soon, he’ll be able to hold his daughter’s hand for the first time in a decade.

surgery

Kepner's surgery underway. Photo courtesy of University of Pittsburgh Medical Center

Kepner, a 57-year-old pastry chef living in Georgia, got his new hands after a nine-hour surgery at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. He is still recovering, but has strong circulation in both hands and has showed no signs of organ rejection. The success of his surgery is in part due to a unique new procedure to improve an organ’s chance of being accepted by the body.

Whenever an organ transplant takes place, doctors have to suppress the recipient’s immune system so that it does not reject the new organ outright. This suppression requires toxic drugs that can increase the chances of infection, cancer, diabetes, or other complications. But in the past decade, an innovative procedure has been used to reduce the need for such drugs while still minimizing the likelihood of rejection. Used during Kepner’s transplant, the procedure transplants stems cells from bone marrow into the donated organs, helping the immune system more quickly recognize the hands as part of the body.

Read More

Donated Lungs Breathing Outside the Body (Video)

8 Comments

by Drew Halley on April 23rd, 2009

Pop quiz!  What’s weirder than dead organs sitting around in glass jars?  Live organs moving around in glass domes.

Lung tissue attached to the XVIVO system

Lung tissue attached to the XVIVO system

For patients with late-stage respiratory diseases, finding a new pair of lungs can be… well, about as hard as it sounds. Currently, about four out of five lung donations are rejected for use, as they don’t fit the criteria required for a safe transplant. Keeping an organ alive outside the body is tricky stuff, especially long enough to patch it up. But what if doctors had enough time to repair donated organs that were initially unfit for transplant?

For the first time, doctors at Toronto General Hospital have used what is called the XVIVO Lung Perfusion System to repair donated lungs. Using a ventilator, pump and filter, the new technique can keep lungs breathing in a glass dome for up to 12 hours following donation. This time window allows doctors to better assess the potential of the organs for transplant, or to repair damaged lungs. Today, only 25% of patients can find a lung donation match. Keeping the lungs alive for a longer period of time improves those odds, increasing lungs’ chances of being used by as much as 5 to 10 times.

In case you didn’t catch that, lungs are breathing in a glass dome.  Creepy?  You bet.   Check it out yourself:

Read More