Ara Atayan
11/4/14
Earth Science/ D Odd Mrs. McClellan
Howard, Jacqueline. "First-Ever
'Dead Heart' Transplants Performed By Surgeons In Australia." The Huffington Post.
TheHuffingtonPost.com, 29 Oct. 2014. Web. 04 Nov. 2014.
In this article
we learn that it is now possible to have a successful heart transplant, with a ‘dead
heart.’ A dead heart is a heart from a donor, which has stopped beating from an
extended period of time before it was transplanted to a patient. This amazing accomplishment was done first at
St. Vincent’s Hospital in Sydney, Australia. The hearts used in these
procedures had stopped beating for about 20 minutes, and were able to save
three people’s lives. Patients are now doing great and functioning
normally. The biggest question is how
did they keep these ‘dead hearts’ working? The hospital was able to keep these
hearts functioning through a machine known as “heart in a box,” which was
developed by TransMedics, based in Andover, Massachusetts. This machine warms the heart and fusions it
with blood rich in oxygen, in addition a solution to preserve heart cells so
they do not dye before the surgery. This
new medical device and operation could save many lives in the future.
This new
discovery is very important to us in our society, because heart diseases and failures
effect people and families every day. With this new technology and operation doctors
have estimated that 30% more human lives will be saved, since more hearts will
be credible for the operation.
Additionally, this new technique can advance the medical field because
if we can do this with a heart we may be able to do it with other ‘dead organs.’ This would affect the lives of
individuals and their families. Also, if we are able to do this with other
organs we could possible extend the lives of people who have cancerous
organs. By replacing them with other new
organs.
I found this
article very interesting because of the possibilities it offers to the science
of medicine. Also, I felt it was very well organized and enjoyed the two
videos, which showed how the heart in a box worked and the local Australian
news network. Additionally, I had a personal
connection with the article since two of my relatives have had several major
heart surgeries. So this article was
very interesting and it was very nice to see the advancements that have occurred
in the caring of our hearts.
Great Ara. this article is very interesting, just to think about the endless possibility that science has. its just so amazing to think a 'dead heart" can fix someone up like that. And to think that the people that had this operation done to them are fine and in good condition is just mind blowing!
ReplyDeleteAra did a great job explaining this article, because I could picture this being very tough to figure out. He makes everything clear and simple, so I person that is not too bright can still understand. I was left with no questions because I think Ara explained everything, and when i did have questions the next sentence was explaining it. How neat is that!